In its active form, vitamin D increases progesterone and estrogen levels, maintains a healthy uterine lining, and reduces the risk of developing polycystic ovary syndrome and endometriosis.
Conclusions: Higher levels of vitamin D may reduce progesterone and estradiol, providing a potential mechanism for reduction in breast cancer risk from increased vitamin D exposure in young women.
Zinc is an adaptogen for several key hormones, helping to rebalance inadequate or excess cortisol, estrogen and progesterone in women. Zinc also reduces inflammation, providing support for healthy hormone production. Foods rich in zinc include meat, shellfish, chickpeas and other legumes, and pumpkin and sesame seeds.
The Importance of Vitamin D
Estrogen imbalance: Vitamin D deficiency may lead to lowered estrogen levels, which can cause depression, hot flashes, mood swings and more.
The team found a “positive correlation” between vitamin D and estradiol. In other words, women with lower levels of vitamin D tended also to have lower levels of estradiol, and women with higher levels of vitamin D tended also to have higher levels of estradiol.
In its active form, vitamin D increases progesterone and estrogen levels, maintains a healthy uterine lining, and reduces the risk of developing polycystic ovary syndrome and endometriosis.
A Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center study involving postmenopausal, overweight, and obese women who took 2,000 IUs of vitamin D daily for a year found that those whose vitamin D blood levels increased the most had the greatest reductions in blood estrogens, which are a known risk factor for breast cancer.
The liver and kidneys convert vitamin D (produced in the skin and taken up in the diet), into the active hormone, which is called calcitriol(1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D).
When vitamin D levels are extremely low in the body, the parathyroid gland is affected and usually tries to compensate by releasing more of the parathyroid hormone. This hormone normally deposits calcium into bone. Vitamin D causes calcium to be absorbed from the gut into the bloodstream.
Low progesterone can be caused by a myriad of factors . Obesity, chronic stress and a poor diet can contribute to low progesterone, but there are also other causes, including: Hypothyroidism (underactive thyroid) Hyperprolactinemia (elevated prolactin)
As we've seen, chronic stress and high cortisol inhibit progesterone production. Therefore, it's vital that we do everything we can to manage our daily stress levels.
For example, ascorbic acid (1 form of vitamin C) can stimulate human placental/trophoblastic steroidogenesis (14), and supplementation with ascorbic acid may increase serum progesterone concentrations in women with a luteal phase defect (15).
The main consequence of vitamin D toxicity is a buildup of calcium in your blood (hypercalcemia), which can cause nausea and vomiting, weakness, and frequent urination. Vitamin D toxicity might progress to bone pain and kidney problems, such as the formation of calcium stones.
Zinc can rebalance these hormone levels through its antiandrogenic activity which will raise estrogen and progesterone back to baseline. Acne production is also a common side effect for those with PCOS because of the high androgen levels that cause excess oil production in the skin glands.
Yes, getting too much vitamin D can be harmful. Very high levels of vitamin D in your blood (greater than 375 nmol/L or 150 ng/mL) can cause nausea, vomiting, muscle weakness, confusion, pain, loss of appetite, dehydration, excessive urination and thirst, and kidney stones.
These finding suggest that vitamin D has a key role in regulating both the thyroid destroying autoimmune antibodies as well as the pituitary trophic hormone TSH.
Recommendations for vitamin D — The current recommendation is that men over 70 years and postmenopausal women consume at least 800 international units (20 micrograms) of vitamin D per day.
Vitamin D is important for everyone, but women over 40 should be especially sure they're getting enough. Critically, for women in midlife, vitamin D may also play a role in moderating several perimenopause and menopause symptoms and concerns. Menopause and vitamins often go hand in hand, and vitamin D is no exception.
Vitamin D
Vitamin D is another one of the fat-soluble vitamins to increase progesterone because it can improve menstrual regularity. Irregular periods often occur in women with low progesterone because they are not ovulating every month.
It can be concluded that a replete Vitamin D status is associated with a better state of endometrial thickness and a number of antral follicles, but this study did not find a pivotal effect of serum Vitamin D level on the pregnancy rate.