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Page 13
| 40 to 55, the onset of menopause. We will discuss menopause as a separate chapter in more detail later. |
| The Adrenal Glands |
| The two adrenal glands are situated on top of the kidneys. These little glands have a major role in many bodily functions. They are responsible for helping to maintain mineral balance in the body as well as helping to control glucose levels, especially in times of stress. They also help adjust blood pressure when needed. The adrenal glands help when the body needs to shift metabolic processes towards rebuilding during and after times of stress. Steroid hormones are produced by the adrenal glands for this purpose. The adrenals also produce some estrogen and progesterone as well as the androgen hormones, which have a major role in helping to rebuild proteins degraded as a result of stress. Stress can include not only psychological distress but also physiological stressors such as illness, chronic allergies, toxic exposure, excess exercise or nutritional deficits due to starvation, malabsorption, maldigestion or parasitic infections. |
| The Liver |
| The liver also plays an important role in the metabolism of female hormones. The liver, in general, has the enormous task of detoxifying external substances which come into the body. What it also must do, however, is detoxify substances from within the body which might cause problems if allowed to build up. With the liver's help, these compounds are altered in such a way as to allow for their excretion by the body's complex elimination systems. The most ap- |
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