“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, support 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.
What Is Luteinizing Hormone (LH)?
Luteinizing hormone (LH), like FSH, is released by your pituitary gland in response to GnRH from the hypothalamus. Both hormones support sexual differentiation during pregnancy and sexual development during puberty.
What Does LH Do in Your Cycle and Fertility?
In the follicular phase of your cycle, estrogen levels rise. When a high enough level is maintained for 48 hours, the hypothalamus quickens its release of GnRH. This tells your pituitary to start making more LH and less FSH.
Luteinising Hormone then triggers ovulation: the ovum (egg) bursts from its follicle to make its way to one of the fallopian tubes for a possible date with a sperm cell.
After ovulation, the “eggshell,” — the granulosa cells that surrounded the follicle — stay behind and form the corpus luteum. This starts to produce progesterone, which supports your uterine lining and delay its shedding: menstruation.
LH supports the formation of the corpus luteum and therefore progesterone production.
Because LH also triggers testosterone production, it influences sex drive in both men and women. Though testosterone is mainly a male hormone, women produce small amounts too. It increases our desire for sex.
For women, the shifting levels between progesterone and estrogen that happen after ovulation also influence our sex drive.
LH and Menopause
During perimenopause, the journey towards the actual menopause transition, LH levels begin to rise, but they can also fluctuate.
Consistently high levels of LH mean that menopause is approaching.
Once you have gone through the transition, LH levels remain high. Several studies show that LH pulses, triggered by GnRH and kisspeptin from the hypothalamus, coincide with hot flashes. Women given kisspeptin antagonists (which lower GnRH and LH) often experience fewer hot flashes.
However, the whole mechanism is not yet fully understood and not all scienctist agrees with it. More research is needed for us to get the full picture of hot flashes.1
Functions of LH Beyond the Menstrual Cycle
Because LH influences your levels of estrogen and progesterone, it indirectly impacts many things in your body:
* Estrogen levels influence bone formation, blood vessel elasticity, your cholesterol levels, and even the quality of your skin and hair.
* Progesterone has a calming effect and supports sleeping well.
* Testosterone affects your energy levels, mood, libido, and muscle mass.
I’ll go into more detail when covering these hormones, but here’s the key: your LH levels help regulate all these effects. And LH in turn is managed by the hormones coming from your hypothalamus. So hormone balance depends on all these parts working together.
LH and Brain Health: A Link to Neurodegeneration and Tumor Growth?
LH receptors have been discovered in the hippocampus, and elevated levels have been linked to more amyloid plaque accumulation in the brain, which connects to cognitive decline (and issues like Alzheimer’s).2
Emerging research also suggests LH may influence tumor growth and inflammation levels in the body, though more studies are needed.3
How to Support Healthy LH Levels Naturally
Since LH is made by your pituitary in your brain, it is crucial to support your brain as well as your overall health. In previous articles, I gave some advice on a general healthy diet that also supports hormone balance.
Today, let’s dive a little deeper into some nutrients that support your Luteinising Hormone.
Vitamin D: Gene Expression and Healthy Follicles
Vitamin D influences gene expression that leads to LH synthesis. When things go wrong at the genetic level, the synthesis gets impaired too.
This vitamin also mediates follicle development. If your follicles do not develop well, it is possible that they won’t be able to respond to LH properly.8 9
Research has clearly shown that Vitamin D deficiency links to reproductive challenges. Luckily it is not that hard to get. Vitamin D is made by your skin if it gets some direct sun. You can also find it in seafood.
Zinc: Required for Protein Synthesis
LH is partly made of protein, so your body needs both dietary protein and zinc to make it.
Your body breaks your dietary protein down into its building blocks, amino acids, and these are then reassembled into new, human proteins. Healthy proteins include fish, lentils, soy, quinoa, and beans. 10
Zinc is not just crucial for your menstrual cycle—it is needed by a huge amount of enzymes in your body. Because not many foods contain high amounts of zinc, and because for a long time I dealt with menstrual pains, I opted for using supplements. You can also add oysters, pumpkin seeds, lentils, or cashews to your diet.
Vitamin C: For LH Synthesis and Antioxidant Protection
Your pituitary stores a lot of vitamin C. It’s needed to make peptide hormones (like LH) and protects against oxidative stress (damage from free radicals). Too much of this type of damage can interfere with hormone production.4
Sungold kiwis are an exceptional source of this vitamin. Citrus fruits, strawberries, mangoes, peppers, broccoli, and Brussels sprouts also give you good doses of vitamin C.
Calcium and Copper: For LH Release
For Luteinising Hormone to be released, first GnRH needs to bind to the gonadotropin receptors in your pituitary gland. When that happens, calcium channels open to let calcium into the cell. This enables the release of LH and also FSH.
Copper can enhance this mobilisation of calcium in the cell by changing the shape of the receptors.5
Calcium can be obtained from leafy greens, tofu, sesame, almonds, beans, lentils, and figs, among many other foods. Yes, you do not need milk to get your calcium.
For copper, you can opt for nuts and seeds, grains, potatoes, mushrooms, avocados, and shellfish, for example.
Manganese: Supporting Ovulation
Some studies suggest that low manganese levels can make ovulation more difficult. The idea is that a lack of manganese disrupts something in the signalling from the hypothalamus to the pituitary. However, the details have not yet been clarified.6
Manganese supports protein synthesis and has beneficial antioxidant properties for your brain and whole body. It’s also required to form cholesterol, which is the precursor of hormones like estrogen and progesterone that influence your LH levels.
Manganese is found in many delicious foods like hazelnuts, pumpkin seeds, mussels, soy, chickpeas, lentils, oats, kale, pineapple, and potatoes. It is not common for humans to be deficient in this trace mineral.
Magnesium: For Brain–Hormone Communication
Magnesium supports the communication between your pituitary and the hypothalamus. This, of course, needs to function well for LH production.7
So add some leafy greens, avocados, almonds, and a bit of dark chocolate to your diet.
The Bigger Picture: Why LH Matters
Luteinising Hormone is an important part of a balanced cycle. It triggers ovulation and helps balance other hormones. It may even have some beneficial effects for your brain and can possibly curb tumour growth. Your overall wellbeing and also your diet influence your hormonal health.
Your overall wellbeing and diet deeply influence your hormonal health — but please don’t feel pressured to micromanage your vitamin intake. You don’t need to stress about exact doses of calcium or zinc.
What I hope you take away from my article is that your diet has a powerful influence not just on your cycle and fertility, but your everyday wellbeing and how much you can enjoy your life! Nutrients from your diet are the building blocks of hormones, neurotransmitters, and the tissues of your body. You need them — and they work best when you nourish yourself with real food, regularly.
And despite this huge importance of eating well, never feel bad for not knowing what the right diet for you is. Our modern culture is not necessarily tailored to your health needs. Unhealthy eating has been made not only popular but even more affordable.
Please reach out if you would like some support! Together we can figure out exactly what your body needs.
Images
Cover: Priscilla Du Preez, Unsplash
Woman putting sunscreen: RF._.studio_, Pexels
Woman in the sun: Victor Freitas, Pexels
Kale: Ellie Burgin, Pexels
Medical Disclaimer