Dr. Tabatha BarberI teach women how to fast their way to a faith-filled, hormonally balanced, fabulous life!

Gut Health's Shocking Link to Hormones & Fertility! #shorts

26 May 2026 · 1 min

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1:13

In this short, Dr. Tabatha Barber explains how gut‑derived inflammation can damage the gonads (ovaries and testes) by impairing mitochondrial health. She notes that egg cells contain the highest number of mitochondria of any cell, making them especially vulnerable. When mitochondria are dysfunctional, eggs may fail to ovulate, leading to reduced progesterone production and broader hormone imbalances (estrogen and testosterone). Barber links this cascade to systemic conditions such as long COVID and vaccine injury, suggesting they can exacerbate mitochondrial dysfunction and thus fertility challenges.

Chapters

Here's a really important thing. This blew my mind. The gut attacks the gonads. So the gonads are the ovaries and the testes. Women, we are born with 1 to 2 million eggs, and you ladies are using them in this area. Like, the babies around here are crazy. I love it. It's a sign of health. And the coolest part is that egg cells have the most mitochondria per cell of any cell in our entire body, because they're going to grow a human, right? And mitochondria are the powerhouses of our body. So if our mitochondria aren't healthy, the egg is not healthy and it will not ovulate, which means you will not make progesterone. You make progesterone in response to ovulation. So if you have mitochondrial dysfunction, you have long COVID, you have vaccine injury, all these things, Yeah, you're probably gonna have trouble getting pregnant. And the ovaries also make estrogen and testosterone, so that is going to drive hormone dysfunction. And like I said, the gut is driving the inflammation that is causing the mitochondrial issue.