Thyroid:
Therapies, Confusion, and Fraud
by Dr. Raymond Peat
Dr. Raymond Peat has his
doctorate in biology from the University of Oregon, with
specialization in physiology, and has taught at many universities.
His study of thyroid hormones began in 1968. In this very
technical report, Dr. Peat says that Dr. Broda Barnes "summed up
the major effects of hypothyroidism on health very neatly when he
pointed out that if hypothyroid people don't die young from infectious
diseases, such as tuberculosis, they die a little later from cancer or
heart disease". Dr. Peat claims that synthetic thyroxine
thyroid drugs have perpetuated "50 years of fraud" by the
pharmaceutical industry. He also claims that "an excess of
thyroxine, in a tissue that doesn't convert it rapidly to T3, has an
antithyroid action. This happens in many women who are given
thyroxine; as their dose is increased, their symptoms get worse."
Dr. Peat also describes how tests showed that "healthy people who
weren't taking any thyroid supplement had higher T3:T4 ratios than the
people who took thyroxine", and that "our own thyroid gland
releases a high ratio of T3 to T4" which is more consistent with
the results from people taking the natural glandular, Armour Thyroid.
Special thanks to Dr.
Lita Lee, Ph. D, who has done so much research on
thyroid problems, and how the thyroid gland is affected by today's
modern diet. The following was inspired by her work.
(Click on her name to be taken to her website)
Thyroid basics
Liz Pavek (c)2001
Take a little shield- or
butterfly-shaped piece of tissue about the size of a small oyster and
place it right at the base of your throat. Make it totally essential
to life and health, and make it secrete some of the most important
hormones your body produces. Make it so that if it is removed or damaged,
the results will be devastating to your health, including diabetes, heart
disease, cancer, and if left untreated, death.
I just described your thyroid
gland. This is the gland that secretes the hormones that control your
metabolism, so if it is defective, damaged, or starved for nutrients, it
will not secrete what you need to live a normal, active life. The
body uses thyroid hormone and vitamin A to change cholesterol into
pregnenolone, progesterone, and DHEA. These are essential hormones
for keeping the body young and active. For humans and higher animals, the
thyroid can be very easily damaged by radiation.
As a Utah downwinder, I remember
receiving iodine tablets all through grade school during the Fifties.
Today, I have chronic and systemic disorders that can conceivably be
traced to a radiation-damaged thyroid gland. Chronic
fatigue and fibromyalgia are just two of the possible
radiation/thyroid disorders. Hypoglycemia
is another, as well as edema (fluid swelling) and inflammation.
These are all symptoms of a damaged thyroid gland which is not secreting
at optimum levels.
Some more of the things that
affect and cripple the thyroid include fluoride in water, foods,
and toothpastes. It damages more than 100 kinds of enzymes in the
body, which can lead to bone disease, cancer, premature aging, and
seizures. Synthetic hormones (like Premarin® and birth control
pills, for example) also disturb thyroid function.
Unfortunately, these are often found in commercial meat, dairy products,
poultry, and eggs.
Unsaturated fats, which are
prevalent in the American diet today, exact an even greater toll on
thyroid function. Unsaturated fats are those fats which are liquid at room
temperature, and include all the seed oils, like borage, evening primrose,
flax, etc., as well as fish oils, and corn, safflower, and soybean oil.
Processing of the oils has no effect one way or the other where the
thyroid gland is concerned, although it does have an overall effect on the
body, as refined/hydrogenated oils introduce free radicals into the body.
But all of the polyunsaturated oils cripple the thyroid to a greater or
lesser degree, and prevent the secretion of the essential hormones of
metabolism.
All soy products contain
estrogen-type substances that act against the thyroid. They are called
"phytoestrogens" and they cause serious inhibition of thyroid
hormones. Too much iodine in the diet is another source of trouble
with the thyroid. Dough conditioners in commercial breads are
usually heavy with forms of iodine, and common iodized table salt is also
a major contributor to the overdosing on iodine. Even beta-carotene and
PABA, common nutrients and vitamins, can exert a negative effect on the
thyroid gland. Mercury in amalgam dental fillings is extremely
toxic, and further inhibits the thyroid. Even endurance running long
distances can depress the effectiveness of the thyroid hormones.
Symptoms of hypothyroidism include
low body temperature, depression, allergies, frequent colds and flu;
fatigue, insomnia, fibromyalgia, weight problems, migraines in cycles,
seizures around the time of ovulation and menstruation, goiter, high blood
pressure (and low blood pressure, too), persistent weight gain as well as
underweight, ADHD, PMS, bronchitis and asthma, fibrocystic breasts and
ovarian cysts, mood swings, fibroids of the uterus, infertility,
miscarriage near the 10th week, menstrual problems; aging problems, such
as heart disease, gall bladder problems, tumors, cancer, diabetes,
senility.
When the blood cholesterol rises
in a patient's body, it is because there is insufficient thyroid hormone
present to convert it to bile salts and hormones like progesterone,
pregnenolone, and DHEA. These hormones are essential for prevention
of obesity, heart disease, cancer, tumors, memory loss, and other
aging-related disorders.
The liver uses glucose to convert
thyroxine (T4) to its active form, triiodothyronine, or liothyronine (T3).
If there is not sufficient T3 present in the body, the mitochondria in the
cells do not work. The electron transport chain which culminates in
the production of oxygen is affected if sufficient T3 is not present.
In the absence of sufficient amounts of T3, glucose is burned
inefficiently into a form of lactic acid instead of complete combustion to
carbon dioxide. In this event, the body gets insufficient energy
from the glucose of the diet.
If the liver uses up its
store of glycogen, the process of converting T4 to T3 comes to a stop.
Hypoglycemia is a result of this, and hypoglycemia overstimulates
adrenalin in order to keep the body functioning in the event of
insufficient glucose in the cells. In hypothyroid patients, the
excretion of 30 to 40 times the normal amounts of adrenalin metabolites is
common. In the presence of low blood sugar, adrenalin attempts to
mobilize glycogen, then stored fat. Then progesterone is converted
to cortisol in the adrenal medulla.
A pituitary hormone (ACTH) is
secreted, which responds to adrenalin. Cortisol stimulates the
production of blood sugar by the catabolism of protein in order to
increase blood sugar (glucose). Cortisol decreases adrenalin and
causes a slow pulse, a condition common in those with underactive thyroid
glands. If the adrenal cortex is forced to over-secrete for too
long, it begins to fail. It cannot produce enough cortisol to
control the blood sugar, and the adrenalin rises. This causes what
is called "adrenalin dominance."
Sometimes, rarely, a very high
pulse (often as high as 120-150) is found, in spite of the patient having
a hypothyroid condition. Correction with proper supplementation can
bring this pulse rate back down to the normal range, around 85 beats per
minute.
Cortisol is produced in the
hypoglycemic individual in order to keep the blood sugar up, but cortisol
inhibits the thyroid, which makes problems worse for the sufferer.
Hormone balancing therapy is the only way to rectify this problem in
hypothyroditic individuals. This would include supplementation of
thyroid hormone replacement, as well as replacement of progesterone, and
adrenal support. Excess cortisol leads to hot flashes, night sweats,
diabetes, bone loss, and glaucoma.
"Adrenalin
and its synthetic drug mimics, such as those used in asthma, are toxic
when used or produced continuously in response to the stress of
hypothyroidism and endurance exercise. Excess adrenalin is
cardiotoxic because it damages heart mitochondria (Voino-Yasenetskaya;
Meerson). Peat suggests that this is due to abnormally rapid
mobilization and oxidation of unsaturated fatty acids leading to
peroxidation, aggravated by inadequate antioxidant protection.
Barnes has many years of research on the cardioprotective effects of
thyroid therapy on his diabetic patients, who normally have an increased
risk to heart disease. This led him to conclude that the
cardiovascular complications of diabetes are due to low thyroid function,
not insulin." -- Lita Lee, "Hypothyroidism, a Modern
Epidemic," Oct. 2000.
Cancer is also a risk with
hypothyroidism in both sexes, because so many types of cancer are
estrogen-responsive, and hypothyroidism allows estrogen to become
dominant, by not allowing the secretion of progesterone, pregnenolone, or
DHEA.
Hyperactive adrenals can stimulate
a high-blood pressure response in susceptible individuals. But if
the adrenals become exhausted, the blood pressure will fall quickly to
below-normal levels. Thyroid hormones increase metabolism and stimulate
circulation, which will lead to lower NORMAL blood pressure.
WHAT SHOULD I EAT?
- A diet rich in animal protein
and animal-source fatty acids. Animal protein is essential for
stimulation of thyroid hormone, as well as helping the liver to
convert it to active, usable form. Eat some form of animal
protein at every meal.
- Fats and oils rich in saturated
fatty acids, like butter, coconut oil, palm oil, lard, and tallow.
Leave the fats on your meat cuts. If they are trimmed lean, add
butter or coconut oil (this adds a delicious taste, as well as
nutritious fatty acids.).
WHAT SHOULD I AVOID?
- A vegetarian diet.
Vegetable protein, such as that found in soy products, will not only not
stimulate the production of thyroid hormone, but soy contains
compounds that actually suppress the action of the thyroid gland.
- All soy products, for the
reasons mentioned above. Soy is found hidden in many commercial
foods as hydrolized vegetable protein, MSG, or soy protein isolate.
Read ingredient panels carefully.
- Raw vegetables of the cabbage
family, like cauliflower, broccoli, cabbage, Brussels sprouts, etc.
These foods must be cooked in order to destroy the thyroid inhibitors.
- All substances that stimulate
or produce estrogens. This includes especially products like
birth control pills, Premarin® or other conjugated estrogens; herbs
like black cohosh, sage, pennyroyal, licorice, and ALL unsaturated
oils.
- Too much iodine. This is
generally not too much of a problem, but it is conceivable that an
individual could take an iodine supplement, and add too much
iodized salt to his food. Iodine is present in many vegetables,
and small amounts are found in multivitamin supplements, sufficient to
provide what the thyroid needs for health.
- PABA. A sunscreen and
member of the B-complex family of vitamins. Avoid vitamin
supplements with large amounts. It is extremely antagonistic to the
thyroid.
- Beta-carotene, because it is
also thyroid-antagonistic. Do not drink carrot juice, for
instance, because of the high concentration of thyroid inhibitors.
- Avoid pesticides. They
are all very estrogenic, which means that by themselves they are
severely thyroid-inhibiting.
- Avoid fluoride in any form.
Fluoride is very antagonistic to the essential enzymes in the body
that produce metabolic activity. Fluoride can cause cancer,
seizures, bone disease, and early aging.
- Avoid mercury in all forms.
Amalgam fillings are the highest single source of mercury poisoning in
humans. Find a dentist who will remove the amalgam fillings and
replace them with composite or epoxy fillings.
THYROID AND MULTIPLE SCLEROSIS
Generally, MS can be traced to
environmental poisoning, such as radiation or heavy metal exposure, such
as lead or mercury. Here is how one expert describes the process: "Cells
called "oligodendrocytes" are responsible for myelinating nerve
fibers and are steroid-forming cells. Specifically, they produce
pregnenolone. In MS, these oligodendrocytes appear to stop
functioning. The clustering of oligodendrocytes around deteriorating
nerve cells may be an attempt to provide pregnenolone to the injured
cells." --- Ray Peat, Ph. D.
Sometimes MS patients suffer from
undiagnosed hypothyroidism, especially if they aren't overweight or
seriously disabled. MS symptoms sometimes disappear under proper
thyroid therapy.
THYROID AND ESTROGEN
Many of the problems that afflict
women can be traced by careful researchers to a lower-than-normal thyroid
function. Even if the estrogen level is normal, the woman still
suffers most of the known "female disorders." Unsuspecting
doctors often prescribe estrogen therapy for these problems, and do
nothing but make the woman sicker by exacerbating her original symptoms. Simply
put, estrogen inhibits thyroid production. Progesterone, on
the other hand, is a thyroid stimulant. Progesterone is made by the
body from cholesterol if there is adequate thyroid hormone present and if
there is sufficient intake of vitamin A.
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