Episode 18: PCOS/PMOS Supplements: What You Need to Know

So I'll start with, a classic tried and true, inositol.

So inositol is a, it's actually a sugar alcohol, a carbohydrate sugar alcohol that we do make in the body and it is found in a lot of foods.

But for folks with PCOS, getting extra inositol supplementally is really beneficial for several reasons.

So what I like about inositol is how it kind of works at what I think of as like kind of the root of what's going on with PCOS.

So it helps to reduce the amount of androgens that the ovaries produce.

So that would be like things like testosterone.

And so that then could translate into in terms of like symptom management of acne or hair growth but also too lowering or reducing the amount of androgens that the ovary produces is also going to have an effect on this menstrual cycle so nostril also improves egg quality or is associated with improvements in egg quality as well as menstrual regularity so ovulation and having a more regular menstrual cycle

as you're speaking to this i'm just thinking Does the inositol directly affect insulin resistance? Yes, it does.

Right? Because that's what you're speaking to, basically.

When you work to, you know, manage insulin, we'll have less acne, lower androgens, like all of these benefits that you're speaking to.

Well,

this is where I really find it's like, you know, chicken or the egg.

And I don't know if we really fully understand this for PCOS, but...

Higher levels of testosterone, the androgens, contribute to insulin resistance.

And having insulin resistance contributes to higher androgens.

So they work bidirectionally.

So if we're improving one factor, we're going to be improving the other component, which is why metformin, which is a medication that was initially really prescribed for type 2 diabetes management, is used very frequently in PCOS And it helps with things like regulating the menstrual cycle and improving and lowering testosterone through its effect on the insulin.

So inositol does all those things alongside lowering inflammation.

So kind of what we were speaking to about sort of the menstrual cycle, inflammatory, insulin-resistant sort of trifecta, if you will, works on all of those pieces.

Right.

So just so we clarify... elevated insulin and elevated androgens cause inflammation.

And I think, again, this is maybe a topic for another day, but, you know, again, in 2000 and something when I was starting, the, well, meaning like 2000 or 2001, that type of, you know, now recently, there was a very small population that was speaking to what we called obesity.

And they were saying that obesity wasn't the root cause.

Inflammation was the root cause of diabetes, of cancer, and all of these other diseases that we speak to nowadays.

And That really resonated with me because I thought, oh, that makes more sense, right? And I think that we're really, and science and the professionals in our community are really coming to understand that inflammation and the endocrine system and the metabolic system specifically are more root causes, right? Rather than someone being responsible for, oh, they just keep making poor food choices or they keep eating things that are quote unquote wrong.