Emotional and cognitive functional imaging of estrogen and progesterone effects in the female human brain: A systematic review

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0306453014003011?via%3Dihub

Hormones are really important to our body functions. Ovarian hormones are pivotal for the physiological maintenance of the brain function, the more we research and study the more we learn about the importance of healthy hormone balance. There is mounting evidence attesting the relevance of endogenous ovarian hormones as well as exogenous estradiol and progesterone for emotional and cognitive processing.

Obesogens: An Environmental Link to Obesity

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3279464/

This most interesting to me and I challenge everyone to read this. In the United States obesity rates have steadily risen in the past 150 years. This applies across the board to everyone. Obesity has risen in adults, children, and even pets, laboratory animals, and urban rats! That is telling. We can’t explain all of this with diet and exercise. Even the “healthy” are seeing increases in BMI. Researchers are gathering convincing evidence of chemical “obesogens”—dietary, pharmaceutical, and industrial compounds that may alter metabolic processes and predispose some people to gain weight. The study suggests that fetal and early-life exposures to certain obesogens may alter some individuals’ metabolism and fat-cell makeup for life. Other obesogenic effects are linked to adulthood exposures. This is important information and could have profound effects long term on health (physical and emotional) and how we approach obesity. 

Estrogen and Body Weight Regulation in Women: The Role of Estrogen Receptor Alpha (ER-α) on Adipocyte Lipolysis 

http://www.inaactamedica.org/archives/2014/25633552.pdf

We know that estrogen plays a key role in the regulation of fat metabolism but we recently learned that this is related to the effect of estrogen on adipose tissue lipolysis. It is suggested that the effect of estrogen to reduction of lipolysis was through activation of an estrogen receptor, alpha (ER-α), in adipose tissue. While we need more information and more studies to clarify the mechanism and how this affects the adrenergic receptor and insulin and norepinephrine sensitivity, the more we learn the closer we come to understanding how the puzzle pieces fit together. 

Estradiol effects on subcutaneous adipose tissue lipolysis in premenopausal women are adipose tissue depot specific and treatment dependent

https://journals.physiology.org/doi/full/10.1152/ajpendo.00023.2013?rfr_dat=cr_pub++0pubmed&url_ver=Z39.88-2003&rfr_id=ori%3Arid%3Acrossref.org& 

This study investigates the effects of locally perfused E2 on basal and stimulated subcutaneous adipose tissue lipolytic rate in the abdominal and gluteal regions of overweight-to-obese premenopausal women. Estrogen has direct effects within adipose tissue and has been implicated in regional adiposity, and this study suggests that effects on abdominal and gluteal subcutaneous adipose tissue are different and could explain much about weight gain tendencies. 

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Gut microbial β-glucuronidases reactivate estrogens as components of the estrobolome that reactivate estrogens

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29029466/
What is an estrobolome? Good question. It’s a collection of bacteria found in the gut that plays a role in metabolizing and modulating the body's circulating estrogen. The bacteria in the gut (microbiome), and the estrobolome, affects estrogen levels. And this can impact weight, libido and mood. This study looks at how the estrobolome and the gut microbial β-glucuronidase (GUS) interact and suggests a multidimensional set of processes that are on-going and involve many enzymes, including types of GUS proteins that reactivate estrogens. Read the article to understand what all of this means and how it plays in.