Nutrients That Support and Toxins that Damage Thyroid Health

Yesterday, I was lucky enough to attend a brilliant lecture at Our Lady’s Hospice in Dublin, given by the top British Naturopath, Dr Roderick Lane, ND.  It was entitled ‘Juggling the Endocrine Cycle’ and one of the many interesting things he discussed was the importance of iodine for a proper functioning thyroid gland.

Iodine is required to convert the amino acid tyrosine into T4, our inactive thyroid hormone. Zinc, selenium and copper are then co-factors in converting the T4 to the active T3, which can be utilized by the body.  Fish, shellfish and seaweed are rich sources of iodine and including them in your diet will help you to increase your iodine supply and support a healthy thyroid function.  One of the problems contributing to poor thyroid health is that our Western diet does not include enough of these foods. However, another far more worrying aspect, are the chemicals in our everyday environment that actually block iodine absorption in the body.  Halides are chemicals found in plastics, fluoride (added to our drinking water), certain pharmaceutical drugs such as SSRI antidepressants, chloride (added to drinking water) and bromine (put in commercial loaves, pesticides, soft drinks).  Flour actually used to be treated with iodine in the manufacturing process but then it was changed to bromine???????????????!!!!!!.

In the body, these chemicals all have the same receptor sites as iodine, so when iodine resources are low, these environmental toxins lodge in our system. Conversely, by increasing iodine rich foods in your diet, you will stop these chemicals taking up the receptor sites.  Is it any wonder, looking at the prevalence of these halides in our everyday environment, that the Irish population has a high prevalence of hypothyroidism?

Hypothyroidism is the condition where you are diagnosed as having an under-active  thyroid gland.  Symptoms include tiredness, weight gain, depression, thinning hair, sensitivity to cold, presence of a goitre (enlarged thyroid gland), and there are also studies linking an under-active thyroid to early recurrent miscarriages.  If you are diagnosed with hypothyroidism your doctor will prescribe you with a synthetic thyroid hormone called Thyroxine - which is your inactive thyroid hormone T4 - to increase the amount of thyroid hormone available to your body’s cells. It still has to be converted to its active form T3, so it can be used by the body. There is a receptor on every cell in your body for thyroid hormone. It is critical as it provides the metabolic energy required for the proper functioning of all cells in all systems of the body.  If you don’t make enough thyroid hormone, your body will not be able to perform all the body’s metabolic tasks sufficiently and your health will suffer.  By supplying the body with nutrients that make and convert your thyroid hormones, you can dramatically improve your thyroid function and your health-

Iodine sources include shellfish, ocean fish, seaweed, eggs. (I like to use a seaweed sprinkle, available in health food shops, which you can add to salads, soups and stir-fries, or just sprinkle over any meal)

Tyrosine sources include seaweed, salmon, turkey, eggs, shellfish

Zinc sources include cashew nuts, pumpkin seeds, shellfish (crab), beans, oats.

Selenium sources include sunflower seeds, brazil nuts, shellfish.

Copper sources include kale, cashew nuts, chickpeas.

I hope that you have found the information here helpful.  Please let me know what you think by posting comments.  You can also f'ollow me on facebook at Food For Thought with Katy O'Sullivan and I am also now on Twitter @kosnut.

Thank you for reading my blog.  If you would like to make an appointment for a Nutritional Consultation, please contact me on 085 166 1648 or e-mail me at katyosullivannutrition@gmail.com.