Aaron Hartman, MDFunctional Medicine Specialist | Clinical Researcher

The Surprising Hormone Disruptor for Women in Their 30s and 40s

9 Jun 2025 · 1 min

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0:52

A short health-advice video by Aaron Hartman, MD arguing that poor gut health is a major, under-recognized disruptor of hormone balance in women in their mid-30s to early 40s. He explains that estrogen is detoxified via the liver into bile and the gut, so impaired gut function can lead to reduced hormone clearance and signs of "estrogen dominance" such as fibrocystic breasts, heavy or painful periods, and excessive bleeding.

Chapters

What is the biggest thing that's messing up your hormones? It's something you probably haven't thought about, but it's super common, especially women in their mid-30s to early 40s. It's affecting them. And this is your gut health. So why does your gut health affect your hormones? Well, within the hormonal hierarchy, which is a part of hormone optimization therapy, we have to focus on certain things that are super important for your hormones, and one of those is your gut health. Why? The reason is because your hormones, primary estrogen, are detoxified through through your liver to your bile and your gut. So if your gut health is off, it can actually affect hormone function. So what does this look like? Well, there's a thing called estrogen dominance where you tend to have extra amounts of estrogen that this can look like. Things like fibrosytic breasts, heavy periods, painful periods, excessive bleeding. These are very common things that actually have to do with the inability to detoxify hormones from your body and actually build up in your system.