“Hormonal, hormonal mess, out of whack hormones, hormonal rollercoaster.” Our hormones have gotten a bit of a bad rep. But did you know that, for example, healthy estrogen levels actually improve your skin, benefit heart health, and help keep your bones strong?
Though menstruation and (peri)menopause come with their challenges, often the real issue is not that our hormones are out of whack, but that our lifestyle, diet, or level of stress are out of balance. This creates imbalance in different areas of our lives, like our health and hormone levels, causing or exacerbating ‘hormonal symptoms.’
In this series about hormones I’d love to take you on a journey that will help you see that our hormones aren’t bad. They can do amazing things for us! And by giving your hormones the support they need to remain balanced, you can enjoy their benefits!
Keep in mind that science has only recently started to seriously consider that a woman’s body functions differently from a man’s body. Proper research into women’s health is still relatively new, and a lot more cool stuff will be discovered in the years to come.
But read on to find out what we know already!
Do you first want a little refresh on the natural flow of your cycle? Then go here first.
The Kisspeptin Hormone
“It started with a kiss” — a chocolate kiss, to be exact. Kisspeptin’s gene was discovered in 1996. The researchers decided to name it after their city’s famous delicacy: Hershey Chocolate Kisses.
Before it received this name, kisspeptin was called metastin. Later on in this post I will explain why.
Controlling sexual development
This hormone is made in your hypothalamus. Together with two other proteins, neurokinin B and dynorphin, it stimulates the production of another hormone: GnRH, Gonadotropin Releasing Hormone. This is a super important hormone! It regulates the production of other hormones and together they influence sexual development in the womb, puberty, and they regulate the female cycle as well as testosterone production for men (and women).
Though all the players in your ‘hormonic orchestra’ are important, kisspeptin, being at the start of it all, is super important! It is basically a switch to turn it all on or off.
It is shown that children who experience early puberty have increased levels of kisspeptin. Though it is rare, when there is something up with the related genes, your kisspeptin levels can be very high or too low. When they are too low, it results in a cascade of other hormones being too low, called congenital hypogonadotrophic hypogonadism. Hormonal treatment is then used to kickstart puberty.
A link between unbalanced kisspeptin and PCOS is also seen, possibly caused by excess androgen (male sex hormones) exposure in early life.
Regulating your menstrual cycle1
So, kisspeptin is at the base of your cycle, it also directly influences follicle development, ovulation, and mediates the feedback from other hormones to your brain. For example, when estrogen levels get high enough, the KISS1 neurons in your hypothalamus know it is time to increase the GnRH pulse frequency. That then signals your pituitary gland to send out Luteinising Hormone, which prepares for ovulation.
New fertility treatment
Though more research is needed to understand the full mechanism, a kisspeptin injection can prepare eggs for use during fertility treatment. As far as is known, this doesn’t have the same more dangerous side effect of the currently used IVF strategy: ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome. This can lead to ovarian enlargement, hydrothorax (fluid around the lungs), ascites (fluid in your abdomen), kidney issues, acute respiratory distress syndrome, and even death.
The placenta also makes kisspeptin
When pregnant, your placenta also makes this hormone, and a lot of it! It supports the anchoring of the placenta into your uterus. This happens by placenta cells invading the uterus. Kisspeptin helps keep the right balance. When too much invasion happens it can damage the uterus. If too little happens, then the blood vessels of the uterus don’t adapt properly, resulting in too little blood supply and oxygen to the baby. This is not good for the baby, but also affects the mom.
Kisspeptin also seems to be involved in oxytocin production that happens close to and during labour and lactation. Oxytocin is crucial for bonding between mother and child.
Milk production is mainly stimulated by another hormone: prolactin. This hormone also influences kisspeptin to lower GnRH. This then prevents new menstrual cycles, which can take a lot of energy from a woman. Preventing them thus preserves that energy to care for the newborn.
Hyperprolactinemia is a condition in which non-pregnant women have high levels of prolactin. It can shut down their menses, just as happens when pregnant. Tests have been done with giving these women kisspeptin, and often menstruation comes back.
All of this shows that there is potential for kisspeptin to be a solution in certain fertility issues2.
What happens to kisspeptin in peri- post- menopause
Let’s first quickly clarify these 3 terms. Post-menopause starts when you haven’t had your period for a minimum of 12 months. Menopause is that 12-month period, and perimenopause is your journey towards menopause. This can start as early as your late thirties, up to just 2 years before actual menopause.
During perimenopause your hormones are shifting, your period can become irregular, heavier, shorter, night sweats or headaches can occur, and your breasts may get lumpier. In the post-menopause phase your body will settle in its new rhythm and symptoms will often ease.
Perimenopause misunderstandings
In the past it was thought that women were born with all their eggs and that with age these decline. This, as well as the idea that estrogen therefore decreases in perimenopause, have been put into question. The research that discovered something else is happening actually isn’t that new, but other scientists, doctors, schoolbooks, and even ChatGPT take a while to catch up.
So, it has been shown that ovarian stem cells are able to produce new eggs during a woman’s lifetime. And, estrogen does not simply decline — it goes all over the place, and often goes up during the perimenopausal phase*.
In the future I’ll dedicate a full post to peri, post and menopause. For now, let’s look at what we know happens to kisspeptin during this time.
Kisspeptin influences hot flashes
Research discovered that in the postmenopausal phase kisspeptin neurons increase in size and number, resulting in kisspeptin, GnRH, FSH and LH levels all going up3.
These increases, specifically of kisspeptin and LH, have been linked to hot flashes. The pulsing releases of LH (stimulated by GnRH and kisspeptin) coincide with the occurrence of hot flashes4.
Since hot flashes can already start in perimenopause, it is possible that these changes already start to occur earlier. This idea coincides with the finding that GnRH pulses quicken in the perimenopausal phase. Since GnRH is stimulated by kisspeptin, it is likely that kisspeptin release is also increased.
Though many questions remain, clearly kisspeptin is a crucial factor for human, male and female fertility. And other functions have also been discovered, and need al lot more investigation to be fully understood!
Other cool effects of kisspeptin
Kisspeptin prevents the spread of cancer cells
Though not all research supports the exact same findings, it has been found that kisspeptin can prevent cancer cells from spreading through the body. The spread of cancer cells is called metastasis. That’s why at first kisspeptin was given the name metastin.
Some studies also pointed out that this hormone can inhibit tumour growth by preventing the further development of blood vessels. Without blood supply, a cancer cell gets no food to sustain itself.
Other studies showed that very high levels of kisspeptin can make a person resistant to certain drugs for very aggressive forms of cancer like triple-negative breast cancer.
More research will be helpful to get a full picture of what is happening here. But it is clear that kisspeptin has an influence on cancer5.
Kisspeptin influences sex drive
In the past, testosterone was thought to be our sex-driver. However, men with certain hormonal issues who receive testosterone replacement therapy do not always regain their desire for sex or erectile functioning. So, testosterone is clearly not the only player in this field. And it turns out kisspeptin is very important here.
Recent studies in humans show that kisspeptin activates areas of the brain involved in sexual and emotional processing, especially the limbic system. When men were given kisspeptin, their brains responded more strongly to sexual and bonding images, and they reported feeling more drive and less sexual aversion. Interestingly, these effects happened without changes in testosterone6.
I couldn’t find specific studies related to women, but it is very possible that kisspeptin also stimulates our sex life.
How to keep you kisspeptin in balance
A crucial element of course is a healthy hypothalamus, as here kisspeptin is produceed. And this is best achieved withoverall good health, physically and emotionally.
Your hypothalamus evaluates your general well-being and decides whether it is safe enough to get pregnant. It does this whether you want children or not. It is simply programmed this way. If the hypothalamus thinks that it is not safe to make babies, it will alter its kisspeptin release, affecting your cycle, trying to prevent conception.
Some specifics that the hypothalamus looks at are:
Energy availability: Enough calories, enough carbs
Carbs and calories are not your enemy, as long as you mainly eat healthy ones. And yes, of course, taking in much more calories than you need will lead to weight gain. And this can become problematic for your health.
So, delicious as they are, minimize the chocolate brownies, ice creams, white bread, white rice, candies, and sodas to a reasonable amount. Instead, add whole cereals to your diet, like wholegrain rice, bread, and oats, and add a good variety of fresh fruits and veggies.
The “bad carbs” are also called “simple carbs.” They are generally processed foods, made easier to consume. Though it’s cool that white rice needs 4 times less time to cook, by processing it, many nutrients, including fiber, have been stripped away. Besides getting fewer nutrients, your body can also digest it more quickly, leading to sudden blood sugar spikes and, when consumed frequently, more serious blood sugar imbalances. And yes, your hypothalamus doesn’t like these.
Protein!
Kisspeptin is a peptide, aka a protein. To create its human proteins, your body needs to eat protein. The protein you eat gets broken down during digestion into its smaller building blocks: amino acids. They then get reassembled into keratin for your hair, collagen for your skin, kisspeptin and GnRH for your cycle, etc.
Animal-based foods are great sources of protein, but not good when eaten in excess. Pulses like lentils and peas are great vegetable-based sources of protein, as are quinoa and soy products.
Veggies contain amino acids too. A good trick for getting all the aminos your body needs is to eat a wide variety of plant-based foods, a bit of fish and a bit of organic or game meat if you like.
It is not common that a person’s protein levels are so low that they no longer can produce this hormone. But proteins are still relevant for overall calorie intake.
And so are fats!
The amount of fat in your tissues tells the body whether you have sufficient energy stored. If this is extremely low, leptin, a hormone produced in your fat tissue, will signal your hypothalamus that there isn’t enough energy in storage.
Other hormones also require fat to be created, like estrogen and progesterone. As we saw these feedback to the hypothalamus and influence kisspeptin. So if these hormones get out of balance, in the end kisspeptin gets affected to.
To summarize
Of course minerals and vitamins are important too and we are oing to cover them in more detail in upcoming articles.
For now, to keep your hypothalamus happy: eat your veggies and fruits, whole grains but don’t overdo it on the wheat to curb inflammation. Also go easy on the meat meat and dairy for the same reason. Add some healthy fats like avocados, fish, nuts and seeds, and some pulses for plant-based protein. You’ll be fine!
If you would like my support to create the perfect diet for you, please reach out here.
Cover Image: Behnamnh Kypo4knh
Pregnant Woman: Vitor Monthay
Medical Disclaimer