Urine sample (at-home)

The DUTCH test looks in detail at sex and stress hormones and their pathways. The information in this very comprehensive test allows your Nutritionist to personalise your hormonal protocol, identifying root cause imbalances and deficiencies that may be causing your symptoms.

This test measures:

• Oestrogen – three forms
• Oestrogen metabolites indicating how you detoxify oestrogen, and indicators of methylation, COMT and other genes involved in liver detoxification
• Progesterone
• Testosterone and metabolites of testosterone including the most active form 5αDHT
• DHEA (a master hormone)
• Melatonin
• Cortisol (active, free form) and cortisone (inactive, free form) over four time points during the day
• Cortisol and cortisone metabolites and total production
• Markers of B6, B12, glutathione, biotin and oxidative stress
• Markers of neuroinflammation, and dopamine and serotonin metabolism

Test options/ add-ons:

• Cortisol awakening response (CAR) – in-depth detail about the initial rise of cortisol in the morning, critical to many functions and pathways in the body
• Cycle Mapping – tracking the rise and fall of oestrogen and progesterone through the cycle to assess symptoms that occur at any stage
• DUTCH for male hormones – similar to the DUTCH complete but with greater detail in the testosterone pathways

Goes well with:

• Hormone DNA Risk Profile including liver detoxification, MTHFR and COMT genes

Karina was experiencing extreme PMS symptoms including irritability, mood changes, acne, migraine and fatigue leading up to her period.

Her DUTCH test showed high levels of testosterone metabolites, high progesterone and a block in her oestrogen detoxification pathway due to poor methylation. She also had low morning cortisol and low overall cortisol production showing possible impacts of long term stress and low resilience.

Karina started on a herbal formula specially designed by our herbalist/ pharmacist to address higher testosterone levels. She also increased her levels of phytoestrogens in the diet to balance the very high progesterone. In addition, she started on a specific B vitamin formulation to support methylation and detoxification of oestrogen. Finally she also adapted her sleep and morning routines to support her circadian rhythm and improve rest and recovery overnight. The B vitamin formulation also contained stress/ adaptogen support.

After just one month on this protocol, her next cycle was much more manageable and her PMS symptoms reduced markedly over the coming months. After this, she was able to reduce her protocol to a maintenance plan.

Key findings:

• Elevated levels of testosterone metabolites
• High normal levels of progesterone, indicating ovulation
• Relatively lower levels of oestradiol
• Significantly reduced detoxification of 2-OH-oestradiol due to reduced methylation
• Low morning cortisol levels and low overall cortisol output