High Estrogen, Toxicity and Beta-Glucuronidase

Many women today are concerned about their estrogen levels as estrogen has been linked to specific types of cancers especially that of the breast. As a functional medicine specialist I have discovered that a high percentage of my patients suffering from estrogen dominance showed an increase in the gut enzyme Beta glucuronidase on their functional stool test. This is important for several reasons.

First of all, beta glucuronidase is an enzyme produced by gram negative bacteria in the gut. This is generally not an issue at low levels however it does become a more serious problem when these bacteria overgrow. They are normal inhabitants of the GI tract that when overgrown, due to dysbiosis, produce excessive Beta Glucuronidase at dangerous levels. Beta Glucuronidase is an enzyme that un-conjugates or un-links chains of molecules. An example is In the case of estrogens, or an excess of estrogen in the blood. It is the liver that conjugates or chains them up to be water soluble and readies them to travel down the common bile duct to the small intestine to eventually be eliminated in the stool.

Unfortunately in the presence of Beta Glucuronidase, this chain of estrogen molecules is then re-cleaved into its component estrogen molecules and allowed to circle back through the portal vein to the liver. Here the liver, yet again, conjugates the individual estrogen molecules and sends them back down to the small intestine for elimination only to be broken down again by this enzyme and sent back to the liver. This vicious cycle repeats itself over and over and over again. The result is an estrogen blood level which never goes down and is always on the rise. This is also true with many toxic substances. This enzyme is wonderful at undoing what the liver has done. This is called entero-hepatic recycling. The takeaway is that with this enzyme you will always be estrogen dominant and or always be toxic because the liver can’t get rid of them.

So the answer to a toxic or estrogen dominant situation is to look to the gut to see if the overgrowth of these bacteria and their release of Beta Glucuronidase is the cause. If it is, a rebalancing of good versus unfriendly bacteria will solve the problem. Eliminating the conditions which resulted in this dysbiosis or overgrowth in the first place. Stress, poor diet, medications especially antibiotics are some of the most common causes. Bringing these gram negative bacteria back into balance is the ultimate answer. As an adjunct to this, a supplement called calcium D- Glucarate will help eliminate this enzyme while the root cause, the bacterial overgrowth, is being resolved. Calcium D-Glucarate does a wonderful job of neutralizing this enzyme allowing excess hormones and toxins to be eliminated via the stool.

So before you go reaching for progesterone to balance the excessive estrogen or go through a multitude of demanding detoxification regimens, rule this out with a functional stool test for the beta glucuronidase enzyme. Most functional stool tests offer this analysis standardly or as an option. If the beta glucuronidase is in excessively high numbers, its levels can be lowered with the resolution of the dysbiosis and the supplementation of calcium D-Glucarate.