Naturally supporting thyroid function

8 min read – Evidenced-based ✔

The thyroid is a small, bow-tie shaped endocrine gland found at the front of the throat. Rather like a thermostat, the thyroid gland regulates the body’s basal metabolic rate. Every cell depends on thyroid hormones for regulation of metabolism. Getting an accurate diagnosis when the thyroid gland isn’t functioning at its best can also be a challenge for healthcare professionals. In addition to a lengthy list of potential symptoms, conventional thyroid testing often fails to evaluate subtle alterations or a wide enough ranges of markers that could indicate a sub-clinical thyroid condition and their healthcare provider often telling them that everything appears ‘normal’, often leaving patients frustrated with more questions than answers and still experiencing symptoms. If you can identify with this clinical picture, read on, help is at hand!

Nutritional Therapy incorporates a functional medicine model (1) approach in supporting thyroid health, or any other health issue for the matter, which essentially widens the proverbial ‘lens’ and considers a patient’s bigger picture across many domains, but not limited to, nutrition, lifestyle, genetics, family history and various environmental toxins and stressors, otherwise known as antecedents, triggers and mediators (ATMs). These are some of the considerations I discuss with patients during my Nutritional Therapy (NT) consultations together with more detailed mechanisms of disease relevant to them (in layman’s terms).

Nutritional Therapy (2) embraces the irrefutable fact that all bodily systems are interconnected, which posits that imbalances in one organ typically has knock-on effects on other organs and bodily systems too. When it comes to understanding thyroid pathologies, evaluating a patient’s overall health and bodily functions is crucial. Nutritional Therapists are academically and clinically trained to ‘dig in deep’ and may allow them to pinpoint their root causes and underlying nutritional and health imbalance(s) which could be contributing to a patient’s thyroid issue. Essentially, by identifying and addressing a patient’s root causes and tangible health improvements are achieved, these are often much more likely to be longer lasting which can have a considerable impact on a patient’s overall wellbeing.

In my clinical experience supporting patients with thyroid pathologies, managing stress levels is invariably an intervention which is very often overlooked, and patients need to be mindful that ‘coping’ with stress is still stress, and can profoundly affect thyroid function. In fact, stress and thyroid health are intimately connected (3). It would impracticable to attempt to fully address any thyroid issues without considering assessing the overall contributions of a person’s life stressors on their symptoms and diagnosed thyroid conditions. In the following paragraphs, I discuss five ways that stress may affect thyroid function; the aim is simply to encourage you to reflect and widen your view when considering a holistic approach to thyroid health, and that naturally improving quality of life and thyroid function with Nutritional Therapy is certainly possible, as I have successfully achieved with patients in the recent past using my behaviour change techniques – PS: See my client testimonials on the bottom of my homepage.

1) Stress affects thyroid hormone conversion
Many may have heard of the inactive hormone called thyroxine (T4). When it comes to thyroid health, 95% of the thyroid hormone produced by the body is in this form, and is also the form that is prescribed (Levothyroxine) when an underactive thyroid gland has been diagnosed (4). However, the body must then convert the majority of inactive T4 into triiodothyronine (T3) which is the most active form of thyroid hormone. The conversion of T4-T3 is neither a guaranteed nor a straightforward process. During highly stressful times, T4 may be converted to reverse T3 instead, an inactive form of T3 that the body can’t use (3) leading to thyroid-related symptoms (figure 1).

2) Stress impacts cellular sensitivity to thyroid hormones
Thyroid hormones are carried around in the bloodstream ‘bound’ to thyroid binding proteins known as thyroid binding globulin (TBG) (3). Many factors could negatively influence circulating levels of TBG which affect the amount of unbound, free-fraction of thyroid hormones. When thyroid hormone arrives at cells where they are needed, they are described as ‘free’ and are then able to exert their physiological effects. Stress may increase the activity of TBG essentially reducing bioavailable free T3, preventing thyroid hormone entering the cells, leading to thyroid resistance and linked to many thyroid signs and symptoms (figure 2).

3) Stress affects the hypothalamus – pituitary – thyroid (HPA) axis
Thyroid hormones are regulated by the HPA axis (figure 2). Although being a much more complex process, in a nutshell, thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH) is released from the pituitary gland to stimulate the thyroid to produce thyroid hormones. Stress may suppress pituitary gland activity and affect TSH production (3), a typical observation with hypothyroid patients.

4) Stress as a risk factor for autoimmune thyroid diseases
Chronic stress influences immune regulation and inflammatory processes, both of which are significant risk factors for autoimmune Hashimoto’s (3 ), whereby the immune system attacks the thyroid gland. Similarly, stress can lead to gastrointestinal disturbances and tight junction breakdown known as intestinal permeability (aka ‘leaky gut’) which reduces HPA axis function, reducing TSH expression and leading to hyperthyroidism or autoimmune Grave’s disease (5) and their associated symptoms (figure 1). Other nutritional imbalances may lead to other thyroid issues. I explain more about this to my patients on my NT consultations.

5) Chronic stress causes nutrient imbalances
Like every other organ, the thyroid gland relies on a number of key nutrients for optimal function (6). Chronic stress is an energy-intensive and nutrient-hungry process, which over time, could lead to sub-optimal levels of many of the key nutrients which are also needed for optimal thyroid function such as tyrosine, vitamin C, B vitamins, zinc and magnesium (8).. Although a number of nutrients are required for optimal thyroid function, not everyone would need all of these nutrients and an assessment would need to be conducted as to exactly what your needs for many of these nutrients are to ensure your safety. Other foods and dietary supplements (7) which are often typically consumed could inadvertently negatively affect a person’s prospects of improving their thyroid health by causing further nutritional imbalances, and by extension their short and longer-term wellbeing. All my patients are screened for dietary imbalances with a very extensive functional health die and I also discuss more about what foods and supplements may be contraindicated for, or potentially contributing to my patient’s malaise during my NT consultations. This is a key advantage of working with me in a safe, evidence-based and personalised manner. My patient’s safeguarding is no Russian roulette, I do not take any risks with their health.

The importance of understanding blood work
Intepreting a patient’s blood chemistry is essential to understand the patient not only from the present standpoint, but also from a historical perspective to better understand where a person is coming from, where they are at now, which will then determine how I can best support them in a much more nuanced, evidenced and personalised manner going forward in to the future. I often get patient’s reporting that they healthcare professional has said their blood work is ‘normal’ but yet still experiencing thyroid-relating symptoms (figure 1). My functional blood analysis uses much tighter marker ranges which is often missed by conventional ranges and much more sensitive to detecting subclinical thyroid dysfunction.

The new ‘normal’
I bet you’ve heard that expression before! Joking aside, but what does a ‘normal’ blood chemistry result actually mean for a person with no symptoms, compared to a ‘normal’ result for another with symptoms? They obviously are not the same ‘normal’ and here is where functional blood chemistry analysis can be very useful. These ‘normal’ ranges have to be interpreted within the context of that individual together with other results to observe trends and characteristics pertinent to that individual, their medical diagnoses and symptoms, otherwise important nuances could end up being overlooked. I can attest that after reviewing hundreds of blood results from my patients, 95% of the times I will see a trend or a little hint of where their obstacles may lie. Being able to ‘fish out’ these small patterns and trends in their blood work is key. Working with me allows a patient’s to receive a unique one-to-one, personalised approach, where all their blood markers are explained, what the results mean to symptoms, short and long-term health, and how Nutritional Therapy can help positively modulate those markers. For a small added fee, you will get a fully featured, graphical and personalised health assessment pdf format (figure 3) with more in-depth analysis.

Working with a Registered Nutritional Therapist
Furthermore, a patient’s recommended foods, nutrients or supplements could interact with their medically prescribed medications placing a patient’s health at risk of a major adverse reaction. As a Registered Nutritional Therapist, I am clinically trained to understand these interactions to safely (and legally) recommend a personalised dietary and supplement programme for thyroid patients, and work with other healthcare professionals, including Medical Practitioners with whom I often liaise with. For that reason it is essential that you work with a clinically trained and registered Nutritional Therapist. Remember that all Nutritional Therapists are Registered Nutritionists, but not all ‘nutritionists’ are Registered Nutritional Therapists, nor are they registered by a regulatory body like I am (2, 9) or legally licensed nor insured to recommend supplements. Unregulated ‘nutritionists’ are not required to undergo continued professional development (CPD) like Nutritional Therapists are. CPD is required to ensure that their knowledge remains fresh and incorporates the latest evidence-based developments in Nutritional Science and understanding of the pathophysiology of many health conditions.

If you would like to work with me to support your thyroid health or any other health condition for that matter, you can learn more about my NT programmes and fees by CLICKING HERE, or get in touch with me using the contact form below or click on the red chat icon on the bottom-left of your screen.