Tanya Borowski Nutrition & Functional Medicine

Tanya Borowski Nutrition & Functional Medicine Offering an integrated approach to health & wellness. https://www.tanyaborowski.com

For years we called it PCOS: polycystic o***y syndrome. This year, that name officially began its shift to PMOS: polyend...
08/09/2026

For years we called it PCOS: polycystic o***y syndrome. This year, that name officially began its shift to PMOS: polyendocrine metabolic ovarian syndrome, following a global consensus published in The Lancet, shaped by input from more than 14,000 patients and health professionals. It's not a new condition - it's a more honest name for the one we've always been treating. The "cysts" on ultrasound were never true cysts anyway; they're immature follicles, and this was never just an ovarian condition.

Which brings me to why the rename matters clinically, not just semantically.

Medicine organises PMOS into four phenotypes based on what's present - ⬆️ androgens, ⬇️ovulation, ovarian morphology, in different combinations. Useful for diagnosis. But it doesn't tell us why those features are showing up in your particular client.

The naturopathic lens - where I live as a practitioner - asks a different question: what's actually driving the high androgens and the PMOS presentation?

1️⃣ Insulin resistance - the most common driver, but not always the one at play
2️⃣ Inflammation
3️⃣ Post-pill rebound
4️⃣ Adrenal androgen excess

Same syndrome, same phenotype even - but a completely different treatment plan depending on which driver you're looking at. That's the piece the medical model still misses: its therapeutic approach has largely stayed uniform, applied to everyone regardless of which subtype they actually have.

The new name gets the label right. Finding the driver is arguably what actually changes the outcome.

Thyroid hormones, T4 & T3 are powerful hormones having receptors on nearly every cell, tissue & organ in the body. So wh...
03/09/2026

Thyroid hormones, T4 & T3 are powerful hormones having receptors on nearly every cell, tissue & organ in the body. So when there is a shortfall - it equally affects nearly every cell, tissue & organ! Just think about what that means: a brain cell not receiving adequate T3 can cause brain fog + forgetfulness. Mitochondria lacking T3 = weight gain. A gut cell not receiving adequate thyroid hormones slows down & results in chronic constipation + bloating - just 3 basic examples.

Hang on, I hear many of you yelling… aren't these symptoms of perimenopause? Indeed, symptoms of hypothyroidism are very similar to those reported during perimeno: fatigue, forgetfulness, palpitations, mood swings, weight gain, irregular menstrual cycles, anxiety, hair loss & cold intolerance. Enter thyropause >>> swipe for another representation of just how interconnected the body systems are.

Thyroid disorders are much more common in women, who are even more prone to develop a form that involves the immune system - Hashimoto's - often at times when progesterone levels drop dramatically: postpartum & perimenopause. Which is why perimeno is often termed the "window of vulnerability."

It's REALLY important to distinguish perimeno symptoms from hypothyroid, as well as be able to understands that the regulation & production of thyroid hormones is not a closed circuit dependant on just levels of T3 & T4, t responds like a proverbial butterfly to various signals beyond thyroid hormones >>>

As you can see, the thyroid & its production of hormones is impacted by multiple signals — from leptin & nutritional status through to circadian rhythm, bile acids & stress hormones. Prescribing levothyroxine or a "thyroid fix" supplement will not improve thyroid function if the reason TSH levels are raised is as an alert to any of these signals.

Want to learn more? We're back in the (metaphorical) classroom this week with WHM, mapping the thyroid properly: no fixed-protocol shortcuts and certainly no thyro fix supplements!

If that's the depth you want in your own clinical toolkit, the waitlist for the 2027 cohort is open (applications follow in a few weeks) - only 45 spots will be available!

I'm heading back down under this autumn for a number of presentation events (I lived in Sydney for 10 years and my Milli...
02/09/2026

I'm heading back down under this autumn for a number of presentation events (I lived in Sydney for 10 years and my Milli was born there, so it's like a second home) 🥰

Part of the trip I'm excited to say is to beautiful Christchurch, New Zealand, to present with one of my favourite people: friend and colleague, the wonderful Lara Briden - The Period Revolutionary - on one of the many topics we both feel passionately about: periods and menstrual health in the adolescent years.

We’ll discuss;
Why healthy menstrual cycles matter for general health
How to troubleshoot irregular periods
Practical solutions for acne, period pain and heavy flow
Following our fireside chat-style presentation, we'll open it up to audience Q&A.

We welcome anyone interested in teen health, including teens, parents, teachers and clinicians, bring your questions!

This event is part of our Hormone Whispers series, alongside Dr Nicky Keay . While Nicky can't join us for this one, the Hormone Whispers have previously taken the stage in Oxford, London, Sydney and Auckland - and now Christchurch!

Spaces are limited as we're keeping to the intimate "fireside chat" style we prefer, so early booking is recommended.

Book here: https://events.humanitix.com/teen-period-health?c=tanya

01/09/2026

Follow the science and professionals not the headlines and hype - experts like .maki Jerilynn C Prior

27/08/2026

Last up in my mini series of Lessons In Nutritional Chemistry of food powerhouses...

This week, I’m sharing the benefits of specific types of cheese - specifically delicious Jarlsberg, Emmental or Gruyere.

I saw a post from last week that absolutely outraged me… 😡If you thought like me, that the dial had moved on gender equ...
25/08/2026

I saw a post from last week that absolutely outraged me… 😡

If you thought like me, that the dial had moved on gender equality in health, read on...

They posed a simple question: what year did the UK make it a legal requirement to include women in medical research?

If you thought 1993 - you’re wrong but you might have good reasoning. It was in 1993 that the US passed the NIH Revitalization Act to finally make women's inclusion in clinical research federal law. But not so in the Uk, we were straggling behind…

In 1998 the FDA (again, the US) begins requiring drug safety and efficacy data to be reported by s*x. A further 8 years take the US implements a "S*x as a Biological Variable" policy, so that s*x must be accounted for even in animal and cell studies. Before this, female animals were routinely excluded.

In the UK, we slowly start to catch up in 2022, when the UK's Medical Research Council finally requires both genders in experimental design but only for animals, tissues and cells. And then FINALLY in 10th November 2025 (just last year 🤯) the NIHR, one of our biggest health research funders, requires applicants to consider s*x and gender for the very first time.

BUT this is just funder policy, not law… We STILL don’t have UK law to include women in medical research. Sit with that for a moment.
So many of the guidelines, reference ranges and "normals" we lean on in practice were built on a body of research that, until months ago, was under no legal obligation to include women at all.

This is the system we're working within, and there still so much catch up in terms of research for women-specific conditions.

Which is exactly why I’ve preordered my copy of 's new book, Tackling Gender Bias in the Healthcare System - out 21st September. Go and read their original post in full; it's such an important topic that requires change, and the book looks set to be essential reading for anyone working in women’s health - what an incredible work from these two exceptional women - Jinty Sheerin & Lou Hockings-Thompson🙏

20/08/2026

Next up in my series of Lessons In Nutritional Chemistry of food powerhouses...

This week, I'm tuning into prunes & all the benefits of this often forgotten fibre source!

We've spent years talking about ultra-processed food & what it's doing to our metabolic health... But there's another ki...
18/08/2026

We've spent years talking about ultra-processed food & what it's doing to our metabolic health... But there's another kind of "ultra-processed" playing havoc with our immune, endocrine & overall metabolism: Ultra-processed light.

Since the 2000s, lighting has changed dramatically. LED bulbs replaced incandescent to save energy & windows were fitted with glass that filters out infrared. Sensible from an energy-efficiency standpoint but the knock-on effect is that we've stripped out roughly 95% of the light spectrum we evolved to live in 🌞

Just like stripping fibre, nutrients & complexity out of food to make it shelf-stable, we've stripped the red & infrared wavelengths out of light to make it "efficient." What's left is a thin, narrow-spectrum product that looks like light, but isn't nourishing us the way daylight does.

Why does this matter? 🧬 Long, red & infrared wavelengths aren't just "nice to have" - they're doing metabolic work. When they reach our mitochondria, they help speed up the electron transport chain, the process that generates ATP (our cellular energy currency). Less red light in, less efficient energy production out.

Researchers link red-light deprivation to a rise in blood sugar dysregulation, mitochondrial dysfunction & even low-grade cognitive & metabolic decline we blame on diet & exercise. Scientist call it "21st-century scurvy" - a slow, creeping deficiency, adding up over years.

This isn't just theoretical - hospitals are now acting on it 🏥 Research links infrared light in hospital wards to better clinical outcomes & shorter stays: patients with daylight access tend to be discharged sooner than those in windowless rooms.

You know I bang on about morning light for circadian rhythm, cortisol & appetite hormones ☀️ This is the next layer: it's now about the type of light you're getting.

The fix isn't complicated:
🌅 Get outside for real daylight - morning light for your circadian rhythm & don't forget about lower, golden afternoon light
🕯️ Where you can, swap harsh overhead LED for a warm, dimmable incandescent bulbs at your desk or in the evening
🪟 Open a window - glass is filtering out the good stuff
📵 Limit scrolling under blue light

13/08/2026

Time for another series of Lessons In Nutritional Chemistry and no better time to dispel some myths and newest “hacks” for improving your help - with some some suggestions of easily accessible and low-cost foods that are absolute nutritional powerhouses with solid evidence to their health benefits.

Starting with - Beetroot!

My hormones are imbalanced" - what test do I need?What if, instead, we looked at this question through a broader and mor...
11/08/2026

My hormones are imbalanced" - what test do I need?

What if, instead, we looked at this question through a broader and more sophisticated lens than a snapshot-in-time test of hormone or metabolite status?

Within Women's Health Mastery, one of the concepts I teach my mentees (and to teach their own clients) is how to read the signs and symptoms the female body offers up across the menstrual cycle. This knowledge is so powerful. For a woman to recognise these signs as direct representations of what's happening hormonally, inside her own miraculous body, is a different kind of literacy altogether.

This is exactly the territory the brilliant Dr Aviva Romm (.avivaromm) shared so generously last week, teaching on a part of the female body that so rarely gets talked about: the cervix.

Across the cycle, her teaching describes two clear phases. In the follicular phase, as oestrogen builds, the cervix sits higher and feels much softer, with lubrication increasing alongside it. After ovulation, as progesterone takes the lead, the cervix drops slightly lower and firms up, more like the tip of the nose, positioned for easier access.

She also shares a lovely, practical point: this isn't something you need to guess at from a diagram. With a clean finger and a little patience (a bit of lubricant helps if things are dry), you can learn to find and feel these changes for yourself, and once you know what you're feeling for, it becomes a genuinely embodied way of knowing where you are in your cycle.

So rather than reaching for the next gadget or test stick, what if we spent more time truly understanding the beauty of the menstrual cycle, and how the body responds within it - knowledge that educators like Dr Aviva are so generous in sharing with us all.

This is exactly what I teach my mentees, too, that without any testing at all, a woman can build a genuinely accurate daily picture of her cycle just by paying attention to a few key signs each day >>> swipe to see.

Put these together daily & a woman has a remarkably clear, cost-free window into her own hormonal rhythm: no labs required!

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