The Menstrual Cycle DECODED: Fertility, PCOS, and the New Science of Hormones
The Dr. Gabrielle Lyon Show
Dr. Gabrielle Lyon
4.6 • 911 Ratings
🗓️ 28 October 2025
⏱️ 73 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
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In this episode, Dr. Gabrielle Lyon sits down with Dr. Heidi van den Brink; one of the only scientists in the world studying the ovarian transition from fertility to menopause. Together, they unpack what textbooks and wellness influencers often miss: the biology behind how your ovaries, uterus, metabolism, and nutrition interact across every stage of a woman’s life.
Dr. Heidi reveals the never-before-seen dynamics of the ovarian cycle, how follicles develop in “waves,” and what really happens during the menopause transition. They discuss how undernutrition, obesity, and metabolic health shape reproductive hormones; why early menarche and delayed ovulation matter for long-term health; and the surprising connection between your gut microbiome, bile acids, and fertility.
If you’ve ever been told to “balance your hormones” with seed cycling, apps, or supplements, this episode separates myths from mechanisms. It’s a masterclass in understanding the science of your hormones and how to truly support reproductive health through every decade of life.
Chapter Markers
0:00 - Can You Get Pregnant While on Your Period?
1:21 - Intro to Dr. Heidi & Ovarian Cycle Research
3:39 - The Uterine Cycle vs. The Ovarian Cycle
6:19 - Follicle Waves: The Hidden Drama in Your Ovaries
10:38 - Novel Discovery: Follicle Waves in the Luteal Phase
12:00 - Why One Follicle is Selected for Ovulation
13:17 - Does Nutrition Affect Ovarian Function?
14:48 - The Variation in Menstrual Cycles (It's Not Always 28 Days)
17:23 - The Impact of Obesity on the Ovarian Cycle
18:11 - The Problem of Luteal Phase Defects & Fertility
24:52 - Ovarian Morphology as a Bio-Marker of Health
26:54 - How Undernutrition Affects Ovarian Health
31:56 - The Metabolic Tipping Point of PCOS (Polycystic Ovary Syndrome)
33:26 - The Myth of the "String of Pearls" Ovary
35:25 - The Menopause Transition & Rogue Follicles
39:04 - Can We Predict Menopause by Scanning Ovaries?
45:59 - Early Menarche (First Period) and Long-Term Disease Risk
48:33 - The Surprising Link Between Puberty Timing and Environment
52:28 - The Role of Leptin in Reproductive Health
55:50 - Debunking the Myth: Can Nutrition Cure PCOS?
59:07 - PCOS Diet Myths (Fruit, Timing, and Supplements)
1:04:40 - Fish Oil for Menstrual Cramps (Dysmenorrhea)
1:08:37 - Breakthrough: Bile Acid, The Gut Microbiome, and Ovulation
1:11:50 - Closing Remarks
Who is Heidi Vanden Brink:
Dr. Vanden Brink is a reproductive physiologist with over a decade of research in nutrition, metabolism, and female reproductive health. Her work focuses on how diet and metabolic conditions like obesity influence reproductive development during adolescence, with the goal of preventing disorders such as PCOS.
Find Heidi Vanden Brink at:
- Texas A&M University: https://nutrition.tamu.edu/people/vanden-brink-heidi/ Google Scholar:
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | There's a heavy discussion on the menstrual cycle. Over the course of the menstrual cycle, we have two things going on in two different organs. We have what's happening in the ovaries, and that's the ovarian cycle, and then we have what's happening in the uterus, and that's the uterine cycle. I have never read about it, but I don't even think that there's many people that study it. There really isn't data to suggest that diet can cure PCOS. There is no |
| 0:23.1 | cure for PCOS right now. What is the myth that you hear? You shouldn't eat fruit if you have |
| 0:29.1 | PCUS because it makes your insulin resistance worse. The data actually show the exact opposite. |
| 0:34.3 | There are challenges with fertility now. It seems now more than ever on both sides. |
| 0:38.6 | In those women with regular menstrual cycles and obesity, the majority of those ovulations |
| 0:43.5 | met the criteria for ludial face defects. |
| 0:45.9 | And that can certainly affect fertility. |
| 0:49.2 | In our research, we consider sort of a normal window age at Menarche, which is a girl's very first period, |
| 0:55.2 | to be between 10 and 15 years. |
| 0:57.1 | When menarche occurs earlier, |
| 0:59.7 | that's associated with a whole host |
| 1:01.6 | of long-term health outcomes, like obesity, |
| 1:04.2 | type of diabetes, endometrial cancer. |
| 1:07.0 | Can you get pregnant while on your period? |
| 1:09.3 | I've seen ovulation during mencies. |
| 1:12.9 | Now let me explain what that means. |
| 1:19.4 | You are a reproductive physiologist, and you are the only person that has studied the ovarian transition from being |
| 1:30.9 | reproductively robust to menopause. |
| 1:33.5 | The transition to metapause, yes. |
| 1:35.4 | Under the supervision of Dr. Angela Barewald, but yeah, I was the one doing the work. |
| 1:40.8 | Pretty incredible. |
| 1:41.7 | Exactly why I wanted you on because you have a unique perspective. And I'm going to open with a banger of a question. Yeah. Pretty incredible. Exactly why I wanted you on because you have a unique perspective. |
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