Polycystic ovary syndrome: Can diet improve symptoms?
What do celebrities Daisy Ridley, Victoria Beckham, Jools Oliver and Emma Thompson have in common?
They have all publicly shared that they were diagnosed with Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS).
PCOS is a common hormone disorder that affects one in five women in the UK. It can be devastating to a woman’s self-esteem and quality of life. As if this weren’t bad enough, many cases are missed because the pill is often prescribed to young women for painful and/or irregular periods and this can mask symptoms. It is often only when you are unable to get pregnant or experience miscarriages that explorations uncover the condition.
Common signs and symptoms include:
Irregular periods/no periods
Difficulty getting pregnant
Excessive hair growth in unwanted places e.g. face, nipples, chest, and back
Weight gain, resistance to weight loss (although many sufferers are not overweight)
Thinning hair on the head
Cravings and binges
Oily skin/acne
Miscarriage
So, what’s happening inside?
What’s happening inside is that too much of a hormone called (LH) stimulates your ovaries to make too much of the male hormone testosterone. Testosterone stops the follicles from developing properly, which can stop ovulation. Too much testosterone may mean you grow facial or body hair, start to lose hair, or get thinner hair around the scalp (aka ‘male pattern baldness). Your body might also have a problem with insulin, the hormone that controls your blood sugar and fat storage. Over time, receptors on the surface of cells become less sensitive to insulin, so your body has to produce more and more to take the sugar out of your blood and into the cells where it can be used as energy. Too much insulin also causes your ovaries to produce testosterone and prevents the liver from producing another hormone called sex hormone binding (SHBG), which mops up any excess testosterone. There’s another downside to excess insulin in the body leads to high levels of sugar in the blood and this can, in time, type 2 diabetes.
Long-term risks of PCOS
Women with PCOS are at an increased risk of developing:
type 2 diabetes
sleep apnoea
high blood pressure
high cholesterol
mood swings
Who gets PCOS?
The exact cause is not known but PCOS is thought to run in families. Researchers suspect PCOS is influenced by genes and possibly exposure to androgens and environmental toxins in the womb. But a genetic tendency to PCOS does not mean you have to suffer the symptoms – you can modify them through diet and lifestyle.
Getting tested
If you think you might have PCOS, make an appointment to see your GP and they can run some tests. Your GP will be looking for evidence of irregular periods, enlarged ovaries containing many fluid-filled sacs that surround the eggs (despite the name these are not actually cysts), and high levels of androgens. The ideal way to get a diagnosis is to have an ultrasound scan and a blood test. Although insulin resistance and elevated luteinizing hormone are common they are not required for diagnosis.
Diet & PCOS
Because insulin has such an important role to play, a diet with a low glycemic load (known as a low GL diet) is the best place to start. The GL of foods explains how quickly your blood glucose (blood sugar) rises after eating carbohydrates. Low GL foods can improve and help balance insulin levels. The most supportive foods for women struggling with PCOS include plenty of whole, fresh vegetables and pulses, low GL fruits and healthy fats, particularly oily fish and foods rich in Omega 3's.
Some studies have shown that an ‘anti-inflammatory’ style diet can aid in reducing symptoms of PCOS and inflammation - one extensively studied diet is the Mediterranean diet, which has health benefits beyond those limited to PCOS.
whole grains
vegetables
nuts
fish (particularly oily)
beans
pulses
olive oil
spices
herbs
Lifestyle & PCOS
Other factors, such as stress, sleep and exercise - also need to be considered when it comes to PCOS.
Chronic stress is known to play a role in raising blood sugar, contributing to insulin resistance and ultimately worsening hormonal problems, so relaxation techniques such as meditation and deep breathing are crucial in addressing PCOS.
If you’re interested in working together, and if you would like a personalised approach to help improve your PCOS symptoms, I warmly invite you to book a free discovery call with me and we can discuss how I can support your health journey https://www.annalofgrennutrition.com/contact.
You can also read more about the PCOS support here: https://www.annalofgrennutrition.com/pcos
During our call, you can tell me about your experience, your struggles and we can work out the best steps for you.
In health,
Anna
