Not many women think about how their body excretes estrogen once it's inactive, but estrogen metabolism is real. In fact, the metabolites your body forms from degraded estrogen provide a significant insight into your current and future health.
But how can you measure estrogen metabolites? A simple urine test gives Inga Zilberstein, MD, the results you need to learn more about your reproductive health and overall wellness.
The DUTCH test is just one of the many tests Dr. Zilberstein can provide with personalized medicine at her office in the Upper East Side of Manhattan, New York. It gives her and you an insight into your reproductive hormones, no matter your life stage.
Estrogen is one of the main sex hormones in females, and it’s active in various bodily functions, including reproduction and vascular and immune systems.
Estrogen metabolism is the complex process in which your body converts the active form of estrogen into a water-soluble inactive form that the body excretes through urine and feces. That process, called biotransformation, happens in the liver.
Several phases of estrogen metabolism result in various metabolites. Common estrogen metabolites include 4-hydroxyestrone (4-OH), 16a hydroxyestrone (16-OH), and 2-hydroxyestrone, or (2-OH).
Each of the metabolites of estrogen that show up in your urine reveals something about your health. The amount of each metabolite provides Dr. Zilberstein with information about your current and future wellness and the potential need for treatments.
For example, higher levels of the 2-OH metabolite show that you have "good" estrogen metabolites and a lower risk of breast cancer. The 2-OH metabolites are also anti-carcinogenic.
The 4-OH metabolite can alter your DNA, making it a threat to tumor growth and certain types of cancer, and 16-OH is also known for tumor growth and can be an indicator of breast cancer risk. It's also known to be an indicator of idiopathic pulmonary arterial hypertension.
In addition, the DUTCH test reveals if you're ovulating and when you're ovulating. It gives Dr. Zilberstein insights into your stress levels and how you're sleeping, which often changes as you enter menopause. The metabolites can also tell her how specific treatments, such as hormone replacement therapy (HRT), are working.
When you take the DUTCH test — which stands for dried urine test for comprehensive hormones — you can send your sample in without worrying if it will hold up for testing; dried urine samples are suitable for several weeks. You'll need to collect several samples before we send the test for evaluation.
The DUTCH test tells Dr. Zilberstein essential information about how your body uses estrogen.
Each person's results are unique to their body, and they can reveal a lot about your menstrual cycle, estrogen and progesterone metabolism, and stress levels — which play a critical role in your overall health and wellness. It can also tell her about your future risk for specific forms of cancer, including breast cancer.
The results mean something different for everyone, and it depends on why we ordered the test to begin with. Maybe you're not feeling like yourself, or you want to know more about ovulation and your cycle.
If you’re using HRT, Dr. Zilberstein can track how your body utilizes and excretes the hormones through the DUTCH test to get you the correct dose for optimal symptom relief. She can also find out how stressed you are and help you lower cortisol and stress levels through various lifestyle changes.
If you’d like to learn more about estrogen metabolism and why it matters, schedule a DUTCH test today. Contact Dr. Zilberstein by calling, texting, or booking an appointment online.
