Hormones are crucial to your overall health and wellness, and so is how well your body uses them. Studying your hormone metabolites provides insight into your body’s hormone management and bothersome symptoms you may be experiencing.
At her office in the Upper East Side of Manhattan in New York, Dr. Inga Zilberstein offers various OB/GYN services, including personalized medicine. One key tool is the DUTCH test, which evaluates hormone metabolites that can provide answers when you’re struggling with issues such as PMS, infertility, or menopause as well as call attention to health risks.
Hormone metabolites are the waste from hormones that the body excretes through urine and body fluids. Understanding how your body breaks these down, usually through the liver, reveals useful information about your metabolism and endocrine health.
Metabolites provide insight into how the body processes hormones such as estrogen, testosterone, cortisol, and progesterone. The metabolites show better detail about how the body uses the hormones and whether there are any imbalances affecting your wellness.
Dr. Zilberstein uses the DUTCH test to get information on your specific hormone metabolites. It can be a part of your personalized medicine plan when you’re interested in learning more about your health or if you have troublesome hormonal conditions.
Hormone metabolites reveal information about your current and future health because they’re not just a measure of circulating hormones. The metabolites can identify:
The secreted metabolites also provide an insight into specific hormonal health risks, including certain types of cancer.
Because the DUTCH test looks at what your body is breaking down rather than the circulating hormones, it offers a better look at how your body is using hormones. And it also provides vital information about your health risks.
For instance, metabolized estrogen can reveal a lot about your current health and future risks of cancer. If the DUTCH test shows high levels of the estrogen metabolite 2-OH, it means you have a lower risk of breast cancer because it’s anti-carcinogenic.
A test with higher levels of 4-OH reveals a greater risk for cancer. High levels of the 16-OH metabolite indicate an increased risk for breast cancer and idiopathic pulmonary hypertension.
If you’re struggling with infertility, Dr. Zilberstein also uses the DUTCH test to look into how you’re ovulating and when. The test also reveals how hormone replacement therapy is working in women with menopause and other hormone disorders.
To find out more about the DUTCH test and to learn what hormone metabolites say about your wellness and health risks, schedule an appointment with Inga Zilberstein, MD. You can call or text 830-254-5941, or send a message through this website.
