The influence of dietary intake on sex steroid hormones
Molly Uren Applied Physiology, Nutrition, and Metabolism, Vol. 45, No. 4 S51
Introduction: Sex steroid hormones, testosterone and estrogen, are
key regulators of metabolism and reproduction. Disruptions in the
homeostasis of sex steroid hormone metabolism results in metabolicendocrine disorders. Dietary modulation of these hormones may be
clinically important in disease, metabolic conditions or life stages
where hormones are altered, such as obesity, menopause and polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS). The aim of this scoping review was to
determine how the fasted and fed state, and different diet interventions impact sex steroid hormones in women.
Methods: Databases
searched include PubMed and Google scholar up to November 2019
and used key words related to diet, dietary patterns, nutrition and
hormones, and reference lists were used to retrieve articles. Database
search led to 75 relevant articles and 19 studies were included in the
review that directly determined diet or nutritional interventions in
women and effects on sex steroid hormones.
Results:
Low-fat diets
(20% total kcal) were associated with significant reductions in plasma
estradiol, estrone and total testosterone concentrations. Consistently,
increasing dietary lipid intake was shown to negatively correlate with
plasma estrogen concentration. Serum testosterone concentrations
were shown to decrease by 20% following a lipid rich meal (65% kcal) in
women with PCOS.
Increasing fiber intake (30g/day) resulted in lower
serum estradiol concentrations independent of weight loss.
Vegetarian diets, high in fruits and vegetables, legumes, 30% kcal from fat and
high in fiber (28g/d), resulted in lower levels of estradiol and testosterone,
and higher serum hormone binding globulin (SHBG). Very low-calorie
diets (800 kcal/d) were shown to induce body weight loss and to reduce
insulin and increase SHBG, which may increase binding of androgens.
Conclusion: Dietary lipid appears to postprandially regulate androgens
and diets associated with weight loss lower estrogens and androgens,
however the physiological mechanisms remain unclear.
Limitations in the field include a lack of well controlled dietary-nutritional interventions and complete assessment of steroid hormone metabolism.