DUTCH Test Explained: What Your Hormone Are Trying to Tell You
In the quest for a longer, healthier life, we often look to exercise, nutrition, and mental well-being as primary contributors to our overall health. While these are undeniably important, there’s another critical piece of the puzzle that often gets overlooked—bloodwork and biomarker testing. This powerful tool can unlock insights into your body’s internal health, helping you optimize your lifestyle and prevent chronic illnesses. Here's why regular bloodwork and biomarker monitoring are essential for achieving longevity.
29 Sept 2025 • 9 min read
Table of contents
- DUTCH Test Explained: What Your Hormone Results Actually Mean
- Understanding the Basics of the DUTCH Hormone Test
- What is a DUTCH test for women and men?
- Why it's used in functional medicine
- Is the DUTCH test legitimate?
- Breaking Down the Hormones Measured
- Stress hormones: Cortisol and cortisone
- Sex hormones: Estrogen, progesterone, testosterone
- Androgen and DHEA-S levels
- Melatonin and sleep-wake cycles
- Making Sense of Your DUTCH Test Results
- Common hormone patterns and what they mean
- When to be concerned about your results
- Next Steps After Testing: From Data to Action
- How to use your results for better health
- Working with a healthcare provider
- Customizing your wellness plan
- How often should you retest?
- Takeaways
- FAQs
DUTCH Test Explained: What Your Hormone Results Actually Mean
Understanding your hormones can feel like a complex or even impossible task. But with so many people experiencing hormone issues these days, you're definitely not alone.
The DUTCH test, which stands for Dried Urine Test for Comprehensive Hormones, is considered one of the most thorough hormone assessments available today. Unlike blood or saliva tests that capture a single moment, this test measures your body's hormone metabolites through dried urine samples collected throughout the day.
What makes this test particularly valuable is its ability to track how your body processes and eliminates hormones, not just their presence. The DUTCH test reveals patterns that other hormone tests simply cannot detect, offering insights into the why behind your symptoms rather than just the what.
But what do those confusing charts and numbers actually mean? How can you turn pages of data into actionable steps for better health? Whether you're dealing with fatigue, mood swings, sleep issues, or other hormone-related concerns, understanding your results is the first step toward feeling better.
For those interested in hormone testing, Geviti offers the DUTCH test as part of their health assessment options.
Understanding the Basics of the DUTCH Hormone Test
What is a DUTCH test for women and men?
The DUTCH test analyzes hormone metabolites, which are compounds created when your body processes hormones, through dried urine samples. This distinction matters because it shows not just hormone levels but how your body is actually processing them.
For women, the test evaluates estrogen, progesterone, testosterone, and their metabolites, along with stress hormones and sleep markers. This makes it particularly valuable for investigating menstrual irregularities, perimenopause symptoms, or fertility concerns. Men benefit from insights into testosterone metabolism, stress hormone patterns, and markers that might affect energy, libido, and mood.
Having normal blood hormone levels doesn't guarantee they're being metabolized properly, which is where the DUTCH test provides unique insights that other hormone tests simply cannot offer.
Why it's used in functional medicine
Functional medicine practitioners favor the DUTCH test because it aligns with their whole-person approach to health. Instead of simply treating symptoms, they use these hormone profiles to identify root causes of health issues.
The test reveals patterns that help practitioners understand connections between seemingly unrelated symptoms. Your insomnia might connect to cortisol rhythm disturbances, while your afternoon fatigue could link to estrogen metabolism problems. These connections often remain invisible with standard hormone testing.
Is the DUTCH test legitimate?
The scientific validity of the DUTCH test rests on established laboratory methods including gas chromatography and mass spectrometry, techniques considered gold standards in metabolite analysis.
While the DUTCH test does provide valuable information, it works best as part of a broader health assessment rather than in isolation. The test's true value emerges when an experienced practitioner interprets your results within your complete health context.
Whether you're dealing with unexplained fatigue, mood issues, or sleep problems, the DUTCH test can provide insights that help explain the underlying patterns.
Breaking Down the Hormones Measured
The DUTCH test measures multiple hormone systems simultaneously, giving you a more complete picture of your body's internal environment compared to isolated hormone tests. But what exactly does it track?
Stress hormones: Cortisol and cortisone
Your body's stress response system revolves around cortisol and its counterpart cortisone. The DUTCH test maps your daily cortisol rhythm — the natural rise and fall that should peak in the morning and gradually decline throughout the day. Abnormal patterns often explain fatigue, sleep problems, and even weight issues.
The test also measures the balance between active cortisol and inactive cortisone. This ratio reveals how effectively your body manages stress at the cellular level. Cortisol metabolites show whether you're breaking down stress hormones properly or if they're lingering in your system too long.
Sex hormones: Estrogen, progesterone, testosterone
The DUTCH test examines how your body processes these crucial hormones, not just their baseline levels. For estrogen, it tracks whether you're metabolizing it through safe pathways or potentially harmful ones, information that's especially valuable for understanding cancer risk.
Progesterone metabolites help identify if your body has adequate progesterone activity to balance estrogen effects. Testosterone and its metabolites provide insights into health issues affecting both men and women, from muscle development to libido concerns.
Androgen and DHEA-S levels
DHEA-Sulfate serves as your body's hormone reserve tank, providing raw materials that can be converted into sex hormones as needed. The test measures both DHEA-S and its downstream metabolites to evaluate your hormone production capacity.
Other androgens like androsterone and etiocholanolone offer clues about hormone-related symptoms such as hair loss, acne, or unwanted hair growth.
Melatonin and sleep-wake cycles
The DUTCH test examines melatonin sulfate, the primary metabolite of your sleep hormone. This measurement correlates with your natural sleep-wake patterns and can explain insomnia or disrupted sleep.
Melatonin and cortisol function in opposition — when one rises, the other should fall. This delicate balance controls your daily energy cycles.
Making Sense of Your DUTCH Test Results
Staring at your DUTCH test results for the first time can feel overwhelming. The multi-page report contains various graphs, charts, and numbers that seem to require a medical degree to understand.
Common hormone patterns and what they mean
Several patterns frequently appear in DUTCH test results:
- High cortisol with low cortisone: Often points to stress system dysfunction and poor adaptation to daily pressures
- Low progesterone metabolites with high estrogen: May explain PMS, heavy periods, or mood swings
- Elevated 4-OH estrogen metabolites: Suggests potentially problematic estrogen processing pathways
- Disrupted cortisol rhythm: Your morning cortisol should be highest, then gradually decline throughout the day
When to be concerned about your results
No single marker tells your complete health story. However, certain findings deserve closer attention: consistently low DHEA-S combined with cortisol imbalances, poor estrogen methylation patterns, significantly elevated stress hormones, or results that align with your symptoms.
Always discuss concerning results with a qualified healthcare provider. Laboratory values need to be interpreted alongside your symptoms and health history for meaningful insights.
Next Steps After Testing: From Data to Action
Armed with your DUTCH test results, you now have a detailed map of your hormone patterns. But understanding the data is only half the battle. The real value comes from turning those insights into a practical plan for better health.
How to use your results for better health
Your DUTCH test results serve as a personalized roadmap for hormone health. Start by identifying the priority areas where your hormones show imbalances. Focus on the most significant disruptions that align with your symptoms.
Simple lifestyle modifications often create meaningful improvements in hormone balance before more intensive interventions become necessary. Sleep quality, stress management, and nutrition form the foundation of most successful hormone protocols.
Working with a healthcare provider
Hormone patterns can be complex, making partnership with a knowledgeable practitioner crucial. Look for someone experienced with functional hormone testing who can create a treatment plan based on your unique results.
During appointments, ask specific questions about your test findings. Request clear explanations for any recommendations. A good practitioner will help you understand not just what to do, but why these interventions matter for your specific hormone patterns.
Consider a company like Geviti, where you can order a DUTCH test and work with a functional practitioner all in the same place.
Customizing your wellness plan
Your personalized plan might include targeted supplements, stress management techniques, dietary changes, or exercise modifications. Most hormone patterns benefit from addressing foundational elements first: quality sleep, nutrient-dense foods, and effective stress reduction.
Sometimes prescription medications may be necessary for significant imbalances. However, many people see substantial improvements through lifestyle interventions alone.
How often should you retest?
Most practitioners recommend retesting after 3-6 months of intervention. This timeframe allows sufficient opportunity to see measurable changes in hormone metabolism. You can track progress and make necessary adjustments to your wellness plan based on these follow-up results.
Takeaways
Hormone health doesn't have to remain a mystery. The DUTCH test provides clarity where traditional hormone testing often falls short, revealing not just what your hormone levels are, but how your body actually processes them.
Your test results tell a story about your body's internal systems — from stress response patterns to sleep-wake cycles to how efficiently you metabolize estrogen and other key hormones. These patterns often explain symptoms that have puzzled both you and your healthcare providers.
The real value emerges when you can connect your results to actionable steps. Whether your cortisol rhythm is disrupted, your estrogen metabolism needs support, or your DHEA-S levels suggest adrenal fatigue, each finding points toward specific interventions that can help you feel better.
Working with a knowledgeable practitioner makes the difference between having interesting data and having a roadmap for better health. The most effective approach often starts with foundational changes: improving sleep quality, managing stress more effectively, and supporting your body's natural hormone production through nutrition and lifestyle modifications.
Remember that hormone balance is an ongoing process, not a destination. Retesting after several months allows you to track progress and adjust your approach based on how your body responds to interventions.
Geviti offers the DUTCH test and hormone evaluation services for those ready to understand their hormonal health more clearly.
FAQs
Q1. What key information does a DUTCH hormone test provide? The DUTCH test offers a comprehensive view of hormone metabolism by measuring various hormone metabolites through dried urine samples. It provides insights into stress hormones, sex hormones, and sleep markers, helping to identify imbalances and potential health risks.
Q2. How do I interpret the results of my DUTCH test? Focus on the overview page, which summarizes results with color-coded markers. Green indicates optimal ranges, yellow slightly outside, and red significantly outside. Pay attention to patterns across related hormones rather than individual values for a more complete understanding.
Q3. What does estrogen dominance look like in DUTCH test results? Estrogen dominance may be indicated when estrogen levels (shown by arrows on gages) are higher than progesterone levels. This imbalance can contribute to various symptoms and health concerns.
Q4. How often should I get retested after implementing changes based on my DUTCH test results? Most practitioners recommend retesting after 3-6 months of intervention. This timeframe allows for measurable changes in hormone metabolism and helps track progress in your wellness plan.
Q5. What is metabolized cortisol in the DUTCH test, and why is it important? Metabolized cortisol is the sum of the most abundant cortisol metabolites. It's considered the best marker for assessing total cortisol production by the adrenal glands, providing crucial information about your body's stress response and overall hormone balance.
