How and Why Women and Men Differ in their Microbiomes

The differences between men and women are quite endless. We are all human. We require all the same chemicals to function. But the levels of each chemical are different which allows us to have different genders.

Man and Woman standing

These differences are just as vast when it comes to the microbiome. The microbiome (and how it affects hormone levels) might actually be to blame for the difference in disease development between men and women.

In this article, we will explore all the differences in the microgenderome and how it affects our health.

What is the microgenderome?

The microgenderome is a field of study that focuses on the gender bias between diseases and what the gut microbiome may have to do with it. It basically is all about how our gut microbes affect the body’s ability to fight and prevent disease and what our hormones do to help or inhibit that.

Sex biases have been noticed in most diseases. High or low sex hormones have been linked to these differences. This is why women and obese men (who generally have low testosterone and high estrogen levels) have a higher rate of autoimmune disorders.

The difference between men and women is the levels at which they secrete the different sex hormones and this is what influences the differences in the microbiome, as well.

What are the sex hormones?

There are a lot of different hormones but there are a few main ones that have the biggest influence on our health. The main three sex hormones are estrogen, testosterone, and progesterone. They are responsible for the different lifecycle changes like:

Puberty
Menstruation
Pregnancy
Menopause

These hormones also control your sex drive and the health of your reproductive system. These hormones are stored in either your ovaries (if you were born female) or in your testes (if you were born male).

The pituitary gland is another main part of your endocrine system and is a major participant in the microgenderome. The pituitary gland controls the storage and release of:

Human chorionic gonadotropin (HcG)
Prolactin
Luteinizing hormone (LH)
Follicle-Stimulating Hormone (FSH)

All of these hormones have a large influence on your health, metabolism, and immunity. Your gut also controls your health, metabolism, and immunity.

How does the microbiome affect hormone secretion?

Since both the microbiome and endocrine system affect similar parts of the body, it’s not a huge surprise that they can interact with each other and work together. But they can also affect each other negatively causing adverse reactions throughout your body.

The gut microbiome is comprised of trillions of bacteria that inhabit your colon. They work together to maintain homeostasis throughout the gut and body. They feed off of our foods that contain hard-to-digest carbs, fiber, and prebiotics. They allow us to get the most out of the foods we eat.

As the bacteria feed off of these foods, they release byproducts into our systems. These byproducts can be short-chain fatty acids (SCFA), other metabolites, or even hormones. All of these things will affect our endocrine system. They send out signals or act on the pituitary gland and affect hormonal release. This is known as the gut-brain axis.

The gut also has enteroendocrine cells that are located in the intestines. The enteroendocrine cells have actions on hormone release throughout the body. So when the gut is in a state of dysbiosis or is highly inflamed it can cause problems with these cells and their regulation.

How does hormone secretion affect the balance of the gut microbiome?

If we take a look at a healthy female and a healthy male, we will see differences between the two in the microbiome. Whether they both have extremely healthy lifestyles, the hormonal differences will make alterations to the gut microbiota distribution.

Female sex hormones promote a state of low-grade systemic inflammation compared to male sex hormones. This is why women seem to tolerate pain and sickness easier than men. The female body is constantly going through a more in-depth cycle and the inflammatory states the body has to be in during these changes create a higher threshold for noticing pain and other inflammation-related symptoms.

So the female gut is already pre-exposed to more inflammation than her male counterparts. Inflammation causes an immune response and this alters the balance of gut microbes.

The immune differences between men and women at this point are altered predominantly by testosterone and estrogen. High estrogen and low testosterone levels create the perfect storm for inflammation responses and therefore open the door for autoimmune disorder initiation. The hormone levels can actually be a big part of why the diseases develop and why the symptoms differ between genders.

How do hormones affect diseases?

Diseases happen because of the inflammatory and immune responses within our bodies. When these responses are ignited for lengthened states it starts to cause organs and cells to malfunction.

Male hormones (testosterone and androgens) protect the body for longer periods of time compared to female hormones.

Hormone imbalance can also affect diseases. If your hormone levels aren’t in the right quantities it can throw off everything else in your body, gut included, and promote disease progression. So if the body becomes stressed from a bacterial or viral infection the hormone levels will have a lot of say in how well the person recovers.

Since the gut and hormone levels affect metabolism they can also have a hand in the development of conditions like diabetes, obesity, insulin resistance, and other metabolic problems.

If your hormone levels continue to stay out of normal ranges, it can cause diseases to get worse. Depending on the disease itself if it is male-dominant or female-dominant, the hormone levels will affect the outcome. Your gut health can also affect this based on the hormones released — which is why your doctor will often suggest eating healthier no matter what your condition is.

What to do about sex-specific diseases

Unfortunately, there isn’t a whole lot you can do when it comes to sex-specific diseases. Men have their predispositions and women theirs. Having your doctor check your hormone levels to make sure they are within healthy ranges for you can help a lot. Also having them check your gut health can create a big difference in your health.

Living a healthy lifestyle is the best way to deal with your conditions. Sex-specific diseases aren’t going to attack you just because of your gender. They come about after unhealthy conditions within your body.

So live your best healthy life by:

Eating a variety of healthy foods
Drinking enough water
Getting enough high-quality sleep
Exercising regularly
Making time for mindfulness and happiness
Avoiding stress as much as possible
Take Atrantil to keep your microbiome healthy and nourished

If you are suffering from a condition that is often dominated by your sex, talk to your doctor about the different testing options to see if hormonal or gut-directed treatments can get you under better control.

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