‘Hormone balancing’ isn’t really a thing, says Dr Zoe Williams – here’s what to do instead

Dr Zoe Williams joins host Emilie Lavinia on the Well Enough podcast to unpack the hype around so-called ‘hormone balancing’ – and explain what actually keeps our hormones healthy

“While it is a marketing term, a wellness term, ‘hormone balancing’ isn’t really a thing”.

That’s according to GP and TV doctor Dr Zoe Williams, who joined me on the latest episode of The Independent’s Well Enough podcast to unpack the booming business of ‘hormone balancing’ – and why many of the supplements, courses and self-styled coaches promising it might be doing more harm than good.

“I think if someone were to say, ‘I’m a hormone balancing coach’, I would have to say, ‘well, what do you mean by that?’” said the ITV doctor. “It could mean so many things, it’s such a vague term. It’s definitely not a medically recognised term.”

Dr Williams explained that our bodies are remarkably adept at regulating themselves – from temperature and hydration to, crucially, hormone levels. “Our bodies are very, very good at shifting, fine-tuning; they’re always in flux and making little adjustments to keep us in balance,” she said.

“In a healthy individual, all these little changes are happening so our body gives us feedback through nerves, through sensors, through hormones – which are like little chemical messengers that travel all around the body – and we stay in homeostasis. But when there’s a disease state that affects our hormones, that’s when you might end up with not enough of a particular hormone, too much of it or a hormone that’s not functioning the way it should.”

So why, if the body is so capable of self-regulation, are we being sold countless wellness products claiming to ‘balance’ hormones? As Dr Williams pointed out, “Whilst it is a marketing term, a wellness term, ‘hormone balancing’? It isn’t really ‘a thing’.”

Nutritionist and author Hannah Alderson, who also appeared on the episode, agreed. “In terms of that idea of this holy grail of ‘balance’, there’s no such thing,” said Alderson, whose book Everything I Know About Hormones explores the myths and realities around hormonal health. “It’s this very intricate dance that hormones do and we are living, breathing things that are agile and [hormones] shift throughout our lifetime.”

“Actually, what it’s about is supporting the environment that your hormones are living in so that they can all individually, and together, optimally function and do their job properly,” she added. “That’s what we’re after. So it’s not necessarily the hormones themselves we’re balancing, it’s the environment that they’re living in.”

The conversation also delved into the growing “low-tox living” trend, with Alderson warning against the increasing number of chemicals in modern life that can affect hormone health. “I have what I call the four ‘Ps’ – pesticides, plastics, products but also people. Because people can be really toxic too,” she said.

“When we talk about ‘endocrine disruptors’, these are chemicals that can mimic or block hormones and they can be found in certain plastics – and microplastics are well and truly part of us now. They’ve been found in organs, placentas, human hearts. So [we’re] trying to reduce plastic exposure by washing your veg, doing what you can with products in the home and making better choices.”

Dr Williams and Alderson also discussed the role of supplements. While many are marketed as solutions for PCOS, menopause or low energy, Alderson advised caution: “Supplements can be recommended in a clinical setting but they’re most effective when being used to treat a deficiency.”

Taking too much of any single nutrient, she added, can do more harm than good. Without testing for deficiencies first, you might simply be paying for “expensive wee” as the body flushes out excess vitamins – or worse, risking long-term side effects.

Dr Williams instead recommended small, sustainable habits to support hormonal health. “When you do a workout, there’s this amazing cocktail of chemicals that get released in your brain,” she explained. “You get serotonin – the happy hormone, dopamine – the reward, oxytocin – the love hormone, and noradrenaline which helps you feel super focused and more motivated.”

The episode also covered the contraceptive pill, with Dr Williams unpacking some of the misinformation circulating on social media about its long-term effects.

Listen to the episode here and watch the full episode on YouTube. Well Enough is available wherever you get your podcasts.

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