Imagine your hormones as messengers racing through your body, delivering important signals. But what happens when they stick around too long? Enter 5β-reductase, a hardworking liver enzyme that acts like a gentle “off-switch,” calming down hormones like progesterone, testosterone, and cortisol while powering up the bile that helps you digest fats. This unsung hero keeps your hormone levels balanced and your digestion smooth—yet most people have never heard of it.[journals.plos]
Metabolism
Breaking the Insulin-Adrenaline Cycle of Hot Flashes
Hot flashes are not simply the price of admission to menopause. They are a dynamic signal of neuroendocrine stress, metabolic inflexibility, and sympathetic overdrive—often amplified by inefficient catecholamine clearance. Emerging evidence from Jerilynn Prior’s work with oral micronized progesterone 300 mg, alongside the arrival of neurokinin-3 (NK3) receptor antagonists like fezolinetant, now allows a more nuanced and mechanistic approach to vasomotor symptoms (VMS) that goes far beyond “give estrogen or not.” Oral micronized progesterone for perimenopausal night sweats and hot flushes a Phase III Canada-wide randomized placebo-controlled 4 month trial | Scientific Reports
Why We Get Sick by Dr. Benjamin Bikman
In Why We Get Sick, Dr. Benjamin Bikman, a metabolic scientist and professor at Brigham Young University, delivers a persuasive case that insulin resistance drives many modern chronic diseases. Drawing from his research in bioenergetics, Bikman argues that this condition—marked by elevated insulin levels and reduced cellular responsiveness—underlies not only diabetes but also heart disease, … Read more