Natural Support for a Healthy Thyroid Gland

Around 2% of the UK population is diagnosed with an under-functioning thyroid. However, it’s estimated many more people may be walking around with symptoms caused by undetected thyroid issues.

Are you one of them? Read on to discover more about this amazing gland, its effect on your health, and what you can do to support its function.

What is the Function of the Thyroid Gland?

Your thyroid gland affects every single cell in your body because it acts like an accelerator pedal to your metabolism. It sits in your neck and produces a hormone called thyroxine in response to instructions from your brain. Thyroxine determines how quickly your cells burn fuel for energy.

If your thyroid revs up your cells’ energy production excessively, this is called hyperthyroidism. If, on the other hand, insufficient thyroid hormones are circulating, your metabolism will slow. This is known as hypothyroidism, and it’s the more common condition of the two.

What are the Symptoms of a Struggling Thyroid?

Because of its widespread effects, if your thyroid is struggling, symptoms can manifest themselves all around your body. This means warning signs are often missed or confused with other health conditions.

Here are some of the more common symptoms of hypothyroidism:

Weight gain
Fatigue
Feeling the cold, especially in the hands and feet
Hair loss
Constipation
Dry skin
Hair loss and dry hair
Low libido
Joint and muscle pains
Low mood
Heavy or irregular periods

Some symptoms of hyperthyroidism:

Weight loss
Feeling too hot and excessive sweating
Irritability, anxiety, restlessness
Diarrhoea
Palpitations, high blood pressure
Muscle weakness
Difficulty sleeping

A common cause of hyperthyroidism is an autoimmune condition called Graves’ disease. This causes the thyroid gland to produce excess hormones.

Both types of thyroid problems can be accompanied by a swelling in the throat known as a goitre.

How is Thyroid Function Measured?

Conventional blood tests measure the amount of thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH) and thyroxine in the blood.

TSH is the hormone produced by your pituitary gland in response to instructions from your brain. TSH tells your thyroid to make thyroxine. If it’s elevated, it can be a sign your thyroid is not functioning optimally. Effectively, your body is urging your thyroid gland to make more hormone.

The typical reference range for TSH in the UK is around 0.38-4.33 mU/l. However, many practitioners believe a narrower range of 0.5 – 2.5 mU/l is more appropriate. This is because an ideal TSH level will vary depending on the person. Using a broader reference range can lead to many people with borderline thyroid issues being missed. This could be the case if you’ve had a blood test from your GP and been told the results are normal, even though you’re experiencing symptoms.

The thyroxine in your blood exists in two different forms, T4 and T3. These differ in the amount of iodine they contain. T4 is a type of storage form of thyroxine, and your body must convert it to T3 – the usable form of thyroxine - when it’s needed. So, knowing the ratio of T3 to T4 is crucial to know how thyroxine is affecting your cells.

Sometimes, however, T4 is converted to a substance called reverse T3. This can happen because of chronic stress or illness, for example. Reverse T3 is similar to but not the same as T3, because its components form a mirror image. Not only is it far less biologically active than regular T3 but it can interfere with T3 by binding to thyroid hormone receptors on cells. Therefore, it’s important to know how much reverse T3 your body is making. However, most conventional tests don’t measure reverse T3, so it’s impossible to tell how well your body is able to use the thyroxine in circulation.

One of the most common causes of hypothyroidism is the immune system attacking the thyroid gland. This condition is called Hashimoto’s disease. Therefore, it can be useful to check for thyroid antibodies to determine whether this is a factor.

Conventional Treatment for Hypothyroidism

Hypothyroidism is usually treated by prescribing thyroxine, a synthetic form of T4. However, if your body can’t efficiently convert this into T3, or it ends up as reverse T3, you may not feel the benefit.

Furthermore, ignoring the reasons behind the thyroid gland’s loss of function can mean thyroxine replacement medication becomes less effective over time. Often, the thyroid simply compensates for the additional thyroxine administered by reducing its own output of the hormone still further.

How to Naturally Support Your Thyroid

Your thyroid needs several nutrients to function at its best. The most well-known is iodine, naturally found in seafood, seaweed, and eggs. However, iodine can be detrimental to the thyroid if intake is too high, so it’s best to speak to a nutritionist if you feel you would benefit from additional iodine. Zinc (1) and iron (2) are needed to use and make thyroid hormones. Meanwhile, selenium (3) and vitamin A (4) help maintain optimal thyroid hormone levels and assist the conversion of T4 to T3. Brazil nuts and seafood are good sources of selenium. Vitamin A and its precursor, beta-carotene, are found in oily fish, eggs, and red, orange, and green vegetables.
Some environmental chemicals can interfere with thyroid function. These include fluoride, found in commercial toothpastes, mercury, in some tinned fish such as tuna, and cadmium, from cigarette smoke. Endocrine-disrupting chemicals like bisphenol A and phthalates from plastics, along with pesticides and flame-retardant chemicals, can interfere with thyroid function and thyroid hormone transport.
Herbs such as ashwagandha may support optimal thyroid function (5).
An imbalance in the bacteria resident in the gut can lead to immune issues and chronic inflammation. Both of these affect the thyroid gland.
Elevated stress hormones can impair the conversion of T4 to T3.

Natural Support for Optimal Thyroid Health

The best starting point for many on their optimal health journey is an Integrative Health Assessment. This will drill down into the root causes of your health issues and provide you with a toolkit of nutritional and lifestyle strategies to optimise your health. These can be complemented by adjunct therapies such as mind/body support if needed. Or, you might prefer to opt for the convenience of our at-home Energy Levels Test. This is a finger-prick test to reveal hidden imbalances in thyroid hormones, nutrients, and blood sugar control that may be impacting your energy and wellbeing. This test is available either with expert-led interpretation or as a standalone.

Make the first step towards optimal health and vitality today.