The surprising connection between menopause and gut health
Menopause can feel like a rollercoaster barreling through emotional hurricanes, sweat lodges, and frustrating weight gain.
Along with all that fun stuff, the “change” comes with some big change to your body and your lifelong health. It’s all thanks to shifting hormones… and there’s no way to stop that from happening.
It can be hard to find a safe way to manage those symptoms. Estrogen replacement can come with some potentially deadly side effects, making it a non-option for many women.
But there is a way to get through menopause more easily… and even sidestep the related health risks.
Menopause 101
When you stop getting your period, usually around age 50, you’re on the road to menopause. Technically, it’s official when you haven’t had a menstrual period for at least one year, but the symptoms and changes kick in before then.
In fact, you can be premenopausal for years before you’re completely done. That’s because everyone’s hormones shift at different rates. And menopause is all about changes in your sex hormone levels.
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Once you hit your late 30’s, your body starts producing less estrogen and progesterone. Those two hormones control menstruation and fertility. That’s why it can be harder to conceive and why your periods might start getting less regular.
Then in your 40’s, you’ll really start seeing the first neon signs of menopause. Your periods will be different and may even change from month to month: longer, shorter, lighter, heavier, more frequent, less frequent. This mixed bag can be tricky to navigate (and super annoying). But eventually, your ovaries won’t release any more eggs, and your periods will stop completely. For most women, this happens around age 51.
And for this entire time, you may experience a wide variety of irritating, frustrating, unpredictable symptoms that will definitely affect your everyday life…
Menopause Comes with Frustrating Symptoms
When you start dealing with menopause, you may experience a bunch of life-changing symptoms. There’s a reason for the stereotypes; menopause symptoms are intense and very noticeable.
The most obvious symptoms include:[1]
- Irritability
- Vaginal dryness
- Hot flashes
- Night sweats
- Mood swings
- Weight gain
- Insomnia
- Thinning hair
- Dry skin
Some of these can have a pretty big impact on your quality of life. And that’s just the start of how menopause can affect you.
Menopause Increases Many Health Risks
Even though going through menopause is a completely natural experience, some of the changes it brings can threaten your health and quality of life.
Menopause increases your risk for several medical conditions including:[2,3,4]
- Obesity
- Heart disease
- High blood pressure
- High cholesterol
- Stroke
- Osteoporosis
- Urinary incontinence
- Urinary tract infections
- Sexual dysfunction
This doesn’t mean every menopausal woman will suffer from all of these problems. But you are more likely to start dealing with these issues once you’ve started menopause.
And a new branch of research seems to have found an unexpected reason behind many menopause-related problems.[5]
The Surprising Menopause-Gut Connection
For decades scientists have been baffled by all of the symptoms and health consequences that menopause can cause. Now a new line of research has uncovered something that may have ties to many of them.
As estrogen levels drop during menopause, so does the diversity in the gut microbiome[6,7]—the trillions of bacteria that live in your gut.
In a healthy gut, a diverse population of beneficial probiotic bacteria vastly outnumber harmful pathogens. Those probiotic bacteria contribute significantly to your overall health and wellness.
But in menopause, as gut diversity drops, pathogenic bacteria start to grow and multiply. When they eventually outnumber the probiotic bacteria, a condition called dysbiosis, they also begin to chip away at the protective gut barrier. When the gut barrier gets weakened, pathogens and other toxins can move from the gut into the bloodstream, causing leaky gut. And once that happens, it can trigger all sorts of other health problems.
Your Gut Needs Extra Support During Menopause
Because gut health can affect whole body health, it’s important to keep your gut microbiome in good shape. The best way to do that is with high-quality spore probiotics. And a quickly growing pile of scientific research is beginning to show how probiotics may help ease menopause.[8]
- A triple-blind randomized placebo-controlled trial found that increasing probiotic consumption positively impacted mood and quality of life in menopausal women[9]
- A 12-week placebo-controlled trial found that probiotics supported healthy circulation and blood vessels in overweight menopausal women.[10]
- A meta-analysis of five studies found that probiotics can help menopausal women maintain healthy bone density[11]
More research is ongoing, and we’re learning more all the time about how a healthy gut microbiome supports and promotes good health during menopause. And if there’s a chance you’d be able to wake up refreshed with bone-dry sheets, not feel like screaming because someone moved your toothpaste, and still be able to wear your skinny jeans? Just think about it.
Just Thrive Gut Health Products
Just Thrive Helps Pave a Smooth Menopause Path
A healthy, well-balanced gut microbiome sets the stage for overall wellness. That’s especially true during menopause, a time filled with many unwanted changes.
Just Thrive Probiotic contains four clinically studied spore probiotics, shown to help maintain a healthy, diverse gut microbiome. Every capsule contains:
- Bacillus subtilis HU58™
- Bacillus indicus HU36™
- Bacillus clausii (SC-109)
- Bacillus coagulans (SC-208)
Just Thrive Probiotic supports healthy digestion, immunity, and whole-body wellness. Plus, it’s clinically proven to address leaky gut in just 30 days.[12]
Still on the fence about trying Just Thrive Probiotic? We’ve got your back.
EVERY Just Thrive purchase is covered by our Bottom of the Bottle, 100% money back guarantee.
So you can try Just Thrive to see if it works for you… and we’re confident it will.
But if for any reason you don’t feel a difference, simply ask for a full product refund. Any time. Even if it’s been 3 months… or 3 years. Even if the bottle is empty! You’ll get your money back at any time if you’re not fully satisfied.
- Talaulikar V. Menopause transition: Physiology and symptoms. Best Pract Res Clin Obstet Gynaecol. 2022 May;81:3-7. doi: 10.1016/j.bpobgyn.2022.03.003. Epub 2022 Mar 16. PMID: 35382992.
- Kamińska MS, Schneider-Matyka D, Rachubińska K, Panczyk M, Grochans E, Cybulska AM. Menopause Predisposes Women to Increased Risk of Cardiovascular Disease. J Clin Med. 2023 Nov 13;12(22):7058.
- The Lancet Diabetes Endocrinology. Menopause: a turning point for women's health. Lancet Diabetes Endocrinol. 2022 Jun;10(6):373. doi: 10.1016/S2213-8587(22)00142-5. Epub 2022 May 5. PMID: 35526555.
- Ji MX, Yu Q. Primary osteoporosis in postmenopausal women. Chronic Dis Transl Med. 2015 Mar 21;1(1):9-13.
- Peters BA, Santoro N, Kaplan RC, Qi Q. Spotlight on the Gut Microbiome in Menopause: Current Insights. Int J Womens Health. 2022 Aug 10;14:1059-1072.
- Alva P., et al. An Update on Gut Microbiome and Postmenopausal Health with Clinical Implications. Journal of South Asian Federation of Obstetrics and Gynaecology (2024): 10.5005/jp-journals-10006-2402
- Peters BA, er al. Menopause Is Associated with an Altered Gut Microbiome and Estrobolome, with Implications for Adverse Cardiometabolic Risk in the Hispanic Community Health Study/Study of Latinos. mSystems. 2022 Jun 28;7(3):e0027322.
- Barrea L, et al. Probiotics and Prebiotics: Any Role in Menopause-Related Diseases? Curr Nutr Rep. 2023 Mar;12(1):83-97.
- Shafie M, Homayouni Rad A, Mohammad-Alizadeh-Charandabi S, Mirghafourvand M. The effect of probiotics on mood and sleep quality in postmenopausal women: A triple-blind randomized controlled trial. Clin Nutr ESPEN. 2022 Aug;50:15-23.
- Szulińska M, Łoniewski I, Skrypnik K, Sobieska M, Korybalska K, Suliburska J, Bogdański P. Multispecies Probiotic Supplementation Favorably Affects Vascular Function and Reduces Arterial Stiffness in Obese Postmenopausal Women-A 12-Week Placebo-Controlled and Randomized Clinical Study. Nutrients. 2018 Nov 5;10(11):1672.
- Yu J, Cao G, Yuan S, Luo C, Yu J, Cai M. Probiotic supplements and bone health in postmenopausal women: a meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials. BMJ Open. 2021 Mar 2;11(3):e041393.
- McFarlin BK, Henning AL, Bowman EM, Gary MA, Carbajal KM. Oral spore-based probiotic supplementation was associated with reduced incidence of post-prandial dietary endotoxin, triglycerides, and disease risk biomarkers. World J Gastrointest Pathophysiol. 2017 Aug 15;8(3):117-126.
