Beyond iodine: Rev up your thyroid with selenium
Posted on May 10, 2017April 25, 2017 by Virginia Times-LawsonVirginia Tims-LawsonVirginia Tims-Lawson
https://personalliberty.com/beyond-iodine-rev-thyroid-selenium/
Did you know that at least 300
different symptoms could indicate you have a low-functioning thyroid?
For me it was debilitating fatigue
starting around 3 p.m., sudden weight gain, terrible confusion and short term
memory… not to mention I was cold all the time and my hair was falling out.
And although my symptoms were fairly
typical, they’re not always reliable indicators.
For one thing, many of the 300
symptoms of a poorly functioning thyroid can appear to come from a cause other
than the thyroid. Not only that, but hypothyroidism can be easy to miss because
not everyone who has it will exhibit exactly the same symptoms.
That’s why it took my friend Terry so
long to get a diagnosis. Her doctor finally ordered thyroid function testing
and got answers.
Testing is really important, and I
firmly believe it should be done sooner rather than later considering that,
left untreated, hypothyroidism worsens with age.
It’s been linked to serious concerns
such as heart disease, diabetes, kidney failure, liver disease,
neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s and many others.
Sadly, thyroid disease is very common.
The Thyroid Federation International estimates that as many as 300 million
people across the world have thyroid dysfunction — and over half of those don’t
even know they have this condition!
Of course, getting a diagnosis is
just a first step. Treating low thyroid effectively means balancing the
multiple nutrients the thyroid needs to function properly.
Why
your thyroid needs selenium
When people think of thyroid
nutrients, the one that normally comes to mind is iodine, which is essential to
make thyroid hormone. Also, a lot of people are iodine-deficient.
However, you need a number of other
nutrients as well to support hormone function, and the second most important
mineral for your thyroid is selenium. Per gram of tissue, your thyroid contains
more selenium than any other organ in your body.
The critical function of selenium is
to activate your production of thyroid hormone.
Selenium is an essential component of
the enzymes that catalyze the conversion of T4, which is the inactive form of
the thyroid hormone, to T3 — the active form.
In other words, if you don’t have
enough selenium, you won’t have thyroid hormone in a form your body can use.
If you’re low on selenium,
supplementation can improve T4-to-T3 conversion.
Selenium also protects the thyroid
gland from damage.
In making thyroid hormone, your
thyroid cells generate hydrogen peroxide — yes, that’s exactly the same
antiseptic your mother used on cuts and burns to prevent infection.
But hydrogen peroxide in the thyroid
hurts, not heals.
Hydrogen peroxide generates an
enormous number of free radicals that, if not neutralized, can seriously damage
and even destroy your thyroid cells. Selenium is one of a group of enzymes that
rush to the rescue, neutralize hydrogen peroxide and preserve your thyroid
cells from devastation.
Selenium combats inflammation and
destructive antibodies.
Hashimoto’s thyroiditis — the most
common cause of hypothyroidism in the U.S. — is an autoimmune disease that
causes inflammation of the thyroid gland. With Hashimoto’s, you’re likely to
develop antibodies to an enzyme inside your thyroid cells that you need to
synthesize thyroid hormone.
In 2002, German researchers treated
Hashimoto patients with high antibody levels with the antioxidant selenium.
After three months, their antibody levels had decreased by 66.4 percent!