5 Best Ways to Protect Yourself from Iodine Toxicity

Take Your Life Back and Stop Hypothyroidism Naturally at the Source

There’s no denying the fact that iodine has become a popular treatment method for hypothyroidism today.

And rightfully so, considering that most websites discussing the topic of hypothyroidism bombard you with advertisements for the latest and greatest iodine supplements that are sure to cure your hypothyroidism.

But have you ever stopped to question the safety or legitimacy behind saturating your body with unnatural amounts of iodine?

The popularity behind the use of iodine for hypothyroidism has been largely fuelled by iodine’s use, centuries ago, in the treatment of goiters.

This, along with other false beliefs regarding your body’s need for iodine, has led some practitioners to recommend that you saturate yourself with iodine, because of the ridiculous belief that more is always better.

Unfortunately, the only ones who win are those selling iodine supplements because the more you use, the more money they make.

Iodine toxicity is a bigger problem than most people realize.

I recently discussed some of the specific dangers of iodine toxicity related directly to thyroid function in my blog post 3 Dangers of IodineTherapy for Hypothyroidism.

How Much Iodine Are You Getting?

Of course, there is a lot of variation from person to person with respect to the amount of iodine people consume on average per day. There are certainly some people who are truly deficient in iodine although this is quite rare today.

Seeing as how the recommendation for iodine is currently 150 mcg per day, it should be easy to understand how one can effortlessly achieve the recommended amount.

Below are a list of some common foods and their iodine content which can give you a better idea of how much iodine you are getting in your diet:

3 ounces of meat contains 15 mcg of iodine

3 ounces of shellfish contains 21-37 mcg of iodine

3 ounces of cod contains 99 mcg of iodine

8 ounces of milk contains 58-116 mcg of iodine

1 large egg contains 18-29 mcg of iodine

1 medium size potato contains 60 mcg of iodine

1 quarter teaspoon of iodized salt contains 115 mcg of iodine

1 ounces of seaweed contains 18,000 mcg of iodine

Getting enough iodine in your diet is oftentimes achievable in a single meal. A single serving of fish with a potato alone can provide you more than enough iodine in a single serving. This is without the inclusion of additional sources of iodine that most people are exposed to on a daily basis such as iodized salt.

How to Protect Yourself from Iodine Toxicity

Below are some simple guidelines to help you protect yourself from the negative effects of excess iodine.

Protect Yourself from Iodine Toxicity #Tip 1 - Avoid Iodine Supplements

To give you an idea of the potency of many iodine supplements today, most people are using 12.5 mg to 100 mg of iodine daily, which equals 80 to 650 times the recommend daily allowance.

To put that into perspective, there are some studies that demonstrate the toxic effects of even a small excess of iodine, from as little as 1 mg.

If you suspect an iodine deficiency then it’s important to use proper testing to determine this prior to diagnosing yourself based solely on assumptions. Measuring your iodine intake as well as testing your urine to determine how much iodine is being excreted is one way to measure your potential for deficiency or toxicity.

Blindly taking iodine supplements puts you at a much greater risk of iodine toxicity which can further damage your thyroid and oftentimes contributes to the development of autoimmune thyroiditis.

Watch these videos here – Warning:Iodine Supplementation (Deficiency, Thyroid Issues) plus Iodine Supplement Warnings

Protect Yourself from Iodine Toxicity #Tip 2 - Avoid Iodized Salt

During the mid to late 1800’s iodized salt was beginning to be used to reduce the prevalence of goiters in many countries. During that time, iodine deficiency was a much bigger issue.

But as you can see by simply looking at the iodine content in the list of common foods above, iodine deficiency is not as common you as might think.

Seeing as how as little as ¼ tsp. of iodized salt provides almost your entire recommended daily allowance of iodine, it should be easy to see how the use of iodized salt can have quite the dramatic effect on your daily iodine intake.

It is also well known that hypothyroid sufferers lose sodium rapidly through their urine. Because of this, their need for salt (sodium) increases which only further compounds this problem and increases your risk of iodine toxicity.

Because of this, it is advisable to get your iodine from other dietary sources and to avoid iodized salt altogether.

Protect Yourself from Iodine Toxicity #Tip 3 - Avoid Seaweed and Other Excessive Sources of Iodine

The idea that seaweed, kelp, and other sea vegetables are rich in thyroid and therefore must be healthy for your thyroid has led many to label iodine-rich foods like seaweed as super-foods.

But the extremely high iodine content can quickly become counter-production. Many types of seaweed provide as much as 4,500 mcg of iodine per ¼ oz., which is 30 times more than the recommended daily allowance.

Protect Yourself from Iodine Toxicity #Tip 4 - Focus on Natural Foods that Contain Healthy Amounts of Iodine

The easiest way to avoid iodine toxicity is to simply focus on eating a naturally healthy diet that contains healthy amounts of iodine.

However, the topic of a truly healthy diet is quite complex as there are many other factors aside from iodine content that are important in overcoming hypothyroidism.

These dietary factors, along with a step by step plan on how to heal your thyroid, are discussed in detail in my Hypothyroidism Revolution Program.

Protect Yourself from Iodine Toxicity #Tip 5 - Don’t Fall for Un-Scientific Testing

Many practitioners who support using high doses of iodine for hypothyroidism also push various tests to determine your potential for iodine deficiency, most of which have been proven to be scientifically invalid.

One such unscientific test that has gained popularity is the iodine spot test. The claim is that you can tell if you are iodine deficient by painting a spot of iodine on your skin. If it disappears quickly then this is believed to be a sign of deficiency.

However, this test holds no scientific basis. Iodine can quickly be converted into colorless iodide through its interaction with many substances.

The bottom line is, avoiding iodine supplements, iodized salt, and other foods that are abnormally high in iodine is a necessary and important step in avoiding iodine toxicity and properly regulating thyroid function.

Of course there is always the possibility that you could truly be iodine deficient and if you do suspect this, then do yourself a favor and get the proper testing you need to be properly diagnosed.

Blindly taking an iodine supplement, or any other supplement for that matter, is an accident waiting to happen.

Read the following related topics:

10 Hypothyroidism Diet Tips to Help Heal Your Thyroid

What is a Good Diet for Hypothyroidism?

3 Ways Coffee Can Heal Your Thyroid and Save Your Life

Hypothyroidism and Cholesterol – What You Don’t Know CAN Kill You!

5 Worst Cooking Oils for Your Thyroid

What is really The Best Cooking Oil for Thyroid Health?

3 Dangers of Iodine Therapy for Hypothyroidism

 

Author Bio:

Tom Brimeyer – The author of Hypothyroidism Revolution – is a practitioner of functional medicine, health researcher and author on nutrition, hormones and hypothyroidism.

His personal mission is to inspire and educate people to take control and achieve true health by correcting their hypothyroidism and underlying causes of their health problems instead of being stuck relying on doctors and drugs that merely cover up their symptoms while their health continues to suffer.

For more details on his program, click on HypothyroidismRevolution.com

3 Dangers of Iodine Therapy for Hypothyroidism

Take Your Life Back and Stop Hypothyroidism Naturally at the Source

Iodine therapy has become quite popular as a “potential” solution for hypothyroidism today. Much of its popularity arises from its use in treating goiters centuries ago.

But today, could it be causing more harm than good?

It is well known that the thyroid gland requires iodine to produce thyroid hormone. But few people understand the potential dangers of iodine therapy and excessive iodine consumption.

Dangers of Excessive Iodine

Today, iodine deficiency is extremely rare even though it is still being touted as a major cause of hypothyroidism. Because of the misleading idea of iodine deficiency, the market has become flooded with iodine supplements that claim to cure hypothyroidism, which in actuality pose a greater threat to your thyroid and health than you realize.

The FDA recommends 150 mcg (micrograms) of iodine daily for healthy thyroid function. This accounts for iodine in your food, as well as any additional supplementation.

As early as the 1970’s it was determined that people in the US were getting 10 times more iodine than they needed which grossly exceeds the recommended allowance.

With so much focus on iodine’s historical role in the treatment of goiters as well as the more recent discovery of its role in the production of thyroid hormone, very little, if any, attention has been placed on the dangers associated with iodine toxicity.

Because of this, most people are completely unaware that excess iodine is also a common cause of goiters, hypothyroidism, and thyroiditis today.

History of Iodine Therapy

The use of iodine therapy for goiters had actually been documented for thousands of years prior to the discovery of the thyroid gland.

One of the first documented cases of goiter treatment goes as far back as 1600 B.C. (more than 3600 years ago) by the ancient Chinese. At that time, what they only understood as a swollen neck was treated with the use of burnt sponge, which reduced the swelling.

The fact that burnt sponge was used as a treatment for goiter continually throughout history from 1600 B.C. through the 1800’s is a testament to its effectiveness. However, the mechanism by which burnt sponge acted was entirely unknown throughout this entire period.

It wasn’t until 1820 that Dr. Jean François Condet discovered that iodine was the active ingredient in the burnt sponge remedy. It was at this time that iodine therapy first became popular.

However, in 1820 as the use of supplemental iodine began, Condet also discovered the issue of iodine toxicity and attempted to warn people of the dangers.

History Repeats Itself – When Will We Learn From Our Mistakes?

When I was young kid in school, I once questioned my history teacher as to the importance of studying history. His answer, which suited me at the time, was that studying history was important so that we don’t make the same mistakes over again.

I suppose there is truth to this in theory but unfortunately, this is rarely the case in reality.

With Condet’s discovery in 1820, the iodine “fad” began. Iodine became readily available in supplemental form and its popularity rose dramatically. People even wore small containers of iodine around their necks so that it was conveniently available when they wanted it.

But the fad didn’t last because iodine quickly gained negative publicity from its over-use and the increased incidence of iodine toxicity.

But this wasn’t the end of the iodine fad…

In 1896 Eugen Baumann discovered that the thyroid gland was rich in iodine. Shortly after this discovery, in 1910, iodine supplementation was back on the map as a very popular treatment for thyroid disorders.

Iodine Deficiency Is Not the Cause of Goiter or Hypothyroidism Today

It wasn’t until the major advancements in science in the 1940’s that scientists began to recognize that there were other factors involved in the process of hypothyroidism that iodine supplementation did not solve.

If iodine therapy was the end-all solution then it would be safe to say that the occurrence of hypothyroidism would have drastically decreased during this time. The incidence of goiter may have decreased but this was also largely due to the development of modern industrialized farming practices and the introduction of iodine into the food supply. However, the incidence of hypothyroidism was still quite prevalent.

As industrialized farming practices were improved, the majority of food was being grown in iodine rich soil and people began to consume more than enough iodine from the foods they ate.

At this point in time, it was understood that iodine deficiency alone, was not the cause of hypothyroidism or goiters. As mentioned above, in the 1970’s it was found that people were getting as much as 10 times more iodine than they needed.

Scientists then began focusing on other causes such as anti-thyroid foods as well as other very interesting concepts. One such theory was that the common day demands on the body had increased which in turn, increased the body’s need for MORE thyroid hormone. As a side note: This is an important subject that will be covered in more detail in the future.

Problems with Iodine Therapy for Hypothyroidism

We’ve already established that the recommended daily allowance of iodine is 150 micrograms. Most of the popular iodine supplements today are recommending the use of 12.5 milligrams or more. That’s 83 times the recommended daily allowance.

Many proponents of iodine therapy recommend as much as 50 milligrams to 100 milligrams of iodine daily which is 350 to 650 times the recommend daily allowance.

This is a sure way to develop iodine toxicity, which is known to be quite dangerous to your thyroid!

Iodine Therapy Danger #1 – Excessive Iodine Causes Autoimmune Thyroiditis

There is quite a bit of research showing that excessive iodine greatly increases your risk of developing autoimmune thyroiditis. Considering the prevalence of thyroiditis today, this is a topic that deserves far more attention than it currently gets.

Below are just a few of the many studies that have demonstrated this link:

Induction of autoimmune thyroiditis in chickens by dietary iodine

http://www.sciencemag.org/content/230/4723/325.abstract

These results suggest that excessive consumption of iodine in the United States may be responsible for the increased incidence of autoimmune thyroiditis.

[Spontaneous Hashimoto-like thyroiditis in cats]

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9065031

Animals with excess iodide intake, however, show an aggravation of the autoimmune inflammatory activity.

Iodine and thyroid autoimmune disease in animal models.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11396701

In general, iodine deficiency attenuates, while iodine excess accelerates autoimmune thyroiditis in autoimmune prone individuals

Iodine Therapy Danger #2 – Excessive Iodine Can Cause Hypothyroidism

Excessive iodine was once used to treat hyperthyroidism because of iodine’s ability to suppress thyroid function. However, in hypothyroid people or people with normal thyroid function, it has the same effect and can lower thyroid function far below normal.

For many, this is a temporary effect that subsides after the source of excessive iodine is removed. However, there are many cases of iodine-induced hypothyroidism that continue long term.

[Hypothyroidism related to excess iodine]

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12448334

WOLFF-CHAIKOFF’S EFFECT: The thyroid gland has a capacity to reduce thyroid hormone production in the presence of excess iodine by reducing the organification of the iodine.

Iodine Therapy Danger #3 – Excessive Iodine Can Cause Goiters

While many people are led to believe that iodine is the only way to treat hypothyroidism and goiters, most are unaware that excessive iodine can actually have the opposite effect and cause hypothyroidism as well as the formation of goiters.

There are a couple of common ways this occurs…

Excessive iodine can cause thyroid cells to divide and grow in number. This causes an overall enlargement of the gland itself. But, when this occurs your cells lose the ability to make thyroid hormone.

Excessive iodine can cause Iodide Myxedema. This is where there’s an accumulation of connective tissue as well as an increase in edema around the neck and thyroid. This is most commonly seen in those who suffer from Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis.Iodide

Myxedema is also common in areas of Japan where seaweed soup is commonly consumed which can contain 80 to 200 mg of iodide.

As you can see, there are some very serious dangers associated with the use of iodine therapy for hypothyroidism. The bottom line is that today, we are posed with a far greater risk of developing iodine toxicity than we are of an iodine deficiency.

And instead of falling for the latest and greatest “fad” thyroid supplement, it’s important to understand what you are putting in your body and the potential negative effects it can have on your thyroid and your health.

Watch this Video HERE and this Video TOO about the dangers of iodine therapy for hypothyroidism

Read the following related topics:

10 Hypothyroidism Diet Tips to Help Heal Your Thyroid

What is a Good Diet for Hypothyroidism?

3 Ways Coffee Can Heal YourThyroid and Save Your Life

Hypothyroidism and Cholesterol –What You Don’t Know CAN Kill You!

5 Worst Cooking Oils for Your Thyroid

What is really The Best Cooking Oil for Thyroid Health?

Author Bio:

Tom Brimeyer – The author of Hypothyroidism Revolution – is a practitioner of functional medicine, health researcher and author on nutrition, hormones and hypothyroidism.

His personal mission is to inspire and educate people to take control and achieve true health by correcting their hypothyroidism and underlying causes of their health problems instead of being stuck relying on doctors and drugs that merely cover up their symptoms while their health continues to suffer.

For more details on his program, click on HypothyroidismRevolution.com

What are the BIG Risks of Subclinical Hypothyroidism in Pregnancy?

Take Your Life Back and Stop Hypothyroidism Naturally at the Source

Being the proud father of two beautiful and amazing children, I know first-hand what it is like to want the best for your children. I know what it is like as a parent to want to give your children the best possible advantage in life. But few realize that some of the biggest advantages that we can give, or get, in life begin long before birth, with the thyroid health of the mother.

While many of the health risks associated with hypothyroidism during pregnancy are well known, yet rarely discussed, studies are now showing that these same health risks are just as common among women with subclinical hypothyroidism, who present no signs or symptoms and therefore are never properly tested or treated.

It’s a shame that we can spend $125 billion dollars a year treating cancer alone, yet we completely ignore such a simple issue that could potentially help cut future cancer rates significantly.

There is no arguing that our health in general has been declining rapidly for many generations now. Diseases, including cancer and Type 2 diabetes, that were once limited to only the adult population are now becoming more and more common in younger and younger children.

If you understand the fact that “it takes life (a.k.a. energy) to give life (a.k.a. energy)” then you can understand that a new-born child can only be as healthy as the parents that brought the child to life.

If we have any chance at putting an end to this negative health trend then we have to start by giving our children the best possible health advantage that we can, which starts during pregnancy and before.

Effects of Subclinical Hypothyroidism in Pregnancy on Foetal and Future Health

There have been a number of studies showing the increased health risk factors associated with subclinical hypothyroidism in pregnancy.

With respect to foetal health and development, these studies show that subclinical hypothyroidism in pregnancy drastically increases risks for:

·         Miscarriage

·         Premature Birth

·         Placental Abruptions

·         Low Birth Weight

·         Neonatal Respiratory Distress

·         Impaired Motor Function

·         Impaired Intellectual Development

·         Lower IQ Scores for Children

Unfortunately, there has been little done to study the long term effects of maternal hypothyroidism on the future health of the child. But knowing that low birth weight is a common risk factor; we can gain a little more insight into the long term effects by simply looking at the future health risks associated with low birth weight.

Granted, subclinical hypothyroidism in pregnancy is not the only cause of low birth weight, but simply understanding that thyroid function plays a crucial role in growth and development, it should make sense that poor thyroid function is definitely an issue, regardless of the cause.

It should be no surprise that the future health risks of adults who were born low birth weight babies are identical to the common health risks of hypothyroidism:

·         Chronic Infections

·         Asthma

·         Insulin Resistance

·         Diabetes

·         High Blood Pressure

·         Heart Disease

Hopefully this opens your eyes to the fact that the health and thyroid function of your mother had a huge impact on your health today. And it helps to explain how declining health is passed from generation to generation.

Even if you had no signs or symptoms of hypothyroidism during pregnancy, a more recent study demonstrated how millions of women are unknowingly hypothyroid and carry almost all of the same pregnancy risk factors.

Risk Factors of Subclinical Hypothyroidism in Pregnancy

A recent study looking into the effects of subclinical hypothyroidism in pregnancy revealed some striking results. These subclinical cases showed no signs or symptoms of hypothyroidism even though testing showed otherwise.

I have talked in great detail about how hypothyroidism is grossly undiagnosed and this study more than proves this. Of all the women studied, just over 10 percent were diagnosed with overt hypothyroidism where they showed obvious signs and symptoms. Even this is more than twice what the medical community claims.

What’s more striking is that 40% of the women were hypothyroid with no signs or symptoms.

This is a major problem since doctors only test for hypothyroidism when there are obvious signs and symptoms, meaning that they are unknowingly missing 40% of hypothyroidism that requires proper treatment. I’m starting to feel like a broken record when I say this.

The results of the study itself showed that these subclinical hypothyroid women presented with almost all of the same risk factors as the women who showed obvious signs or symptoms. And the risk factors were just as significant; which include:

·         Miscarriage

·         Still birth

·         Preterm Delivery

·         Low Birth Weight

·         Small Gestational Age Rates

This shows the obvious need for better testing and screening for hypothyroidism, especially early in pregnancy.

Pregnancy Loss and Neonatal Outcomes in Women with

Thyroid Dysfunction in the First Trimester of Pregnancy

http://edrv.endojournals.org/cgi/content/meeting_abstract/33/03_MeetingAbstracts/SAT-13

Subclinical hypothyroidism (GpB) was associated with significantly increased foetal loss, preterm delivery, increased low birth weight (LBW)rates and increased small for gestation age(SGA)rates…

Overt hypothyroidism (GpC) was also associated significantly increased foetal loss, increased LBW rates, increased SGA rates and increased incidence of neonatal hyperbilirubinemia…

Watch this Video HERE – Subclinical Hypothyroidism in Pregnancy - How Mom's Thyroid Problems Can Hurt Baby

Thyroid Testing during Pregnancy – Too Little, Too Late?

The author of the above study is using this research to push for routine hypothyroidism screening for pregnant women.

Is this a step in the right direction? Of course it is.

But ideally, we should be diagnosing and treating hypothyroidism well before pregnancy. The focus should be on prevention which should start much earlier in life.

An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.

– Ben Franklin

Children today DO deserve the best possible advantages in life which is why proper screening for children is an absolute must. Plus it doesn’t have to cost anyone a penny. It’s well known that blood tests for hypothyroidism are not cutting it today. Simply monitoring temperature and pulse is a free and far more effective screening.

Imagine that, improving health and saving lives while lowering the cost of healthcare.

What a novel idea…

Author Bio:

Tom Brimeyer – The author of Hypothyroidism Revolution – is a practitioner of functional medicine, health researcher and author on nutrition, hormones and hypothyroidism.

His personal mission is to inspire and educate people to take control and achieve true health by correcting their hypothyroidism and underlying causes of their health problems instead of being stuck relying on doctors and drugs that merely cover up their symptoms while their health continues to suffer.

For more details on his program, click on HypothyroidismRevolution.com

What is really The Best Cooking Oil for Thyroid Health?

Take Your Life Back and Stop Hypothyroidism Naturally at the Source

It’s no secret that the rate of virtually every disease continues to rise year after year. Often at times if you want to achieve the opposite results with your health, you must take opposite action.

A perfect example of this can be seen by looking at the fats in your diet. Coconut oil is by far one of the best fats, or cooking oils, for thyroid health because of the fact that it’s highly saturated.

Not only is coconut oil a very saturated fat containing 96% or more saturated fat, but it contains next to no polyunsaturated fats (PUFAs), which we know are quite thyroid suppressive on multiple levels.

Before you start cringing and squirming in your seat at the idea of using a saturated fat in your diet, let’s think about it for just a second and use a little common sense for once.

We know that unsaturated fats oxidize easily and promote cell damage. The reason they oxidize so easily is because of their weak and unstable chemical structure.

Saturated fats on the other hand are extremely stable and do not oxidize. So, by simply eating coconut oil instead of PUFAs, you’re protecting yourself from accelerated aging and a number of other health problems associated with the oxidative damage caused by PUFAs in your diet.

But won’t coconut oil, being a saturated fat, clog your arteries and cause heart disease?

Unfortunately, that’s what more than a half of a century of brain washing will do to you. But it’s a good thing that you’re too smart to let that continue to happen, right?

In fact there’s lots of research on coconut oil and how it protects against heart disease.

Medium chain triglycerides (MCT) in aging and arteriosclerosis.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/3519928

The Demographic Yearbook of the United Nations (1978) reported that Sri Lanka has the lowest death rate from ischemic heart disease. Sri Lanka is the only of the countries giving reliable data where coconut oil (containing over 50% medium chain fatty acids) is the main dietary fat.

What baffles me even more is that regardless of the research, the benefits of coconut oil are still being greatly down-played by the medical community.

In fact, here’s a quote directly from a Mayo Clinic endocrinologist regarding the potential benefits of coconut oil for thyroid health:

The misconception that coconut oil can cure underactive thyroid (hypothyroidism) arose after publication of a book several years ago touting the beneficial effects of coconut oil. However, there is no evidence that coconut oil stimulates thyroid function.

–       Mayo Clinic Endocrinologist

Even the FDA has stated that coconut oil, being a saturated fat, should be avoided.

How Coconut Oil Helps Thyroid Health

Unfortunately, our lack of understanding of physiology and common sense are really what are holding us back from seeing and understanding the benefits that coconut oil provides for hypothyroidism.

Sometimes you have to look beyond the direct effect on the thyroid gland itself and look at the bigger picture.

Most of the benefits that coconut oil provides for thyroid health, have more to do with its ability to help regulate and correct your physiology to prevent other external influences from suppressing your thyroid.

Here are a few examples of how coconut oil directly or indirectly improves thyroid health and function.

1. Coconut oil displaces PUFAs and their direct harmful thyroid suppressive effects. As I mentioned above, these so called “heart healthy” polyunsaturated fats that are being promoted are well known to suppress your thyroid on multiple levels: at your gland, in your bloodstream, and at your cells.

By simply eating more coconut oil, you are effectively increasing the ratio of saturated fatty acids to unsaturated fatty acids and therefore displacing the PUFAs in your body which directly improves your thyroid health function on all levels.

2. Coconut oil helps regulate blood sugar and stress hormones which suppress thyroid function. PUFAs are also very effective at lowering blood sugar, and by replacing PUFAs in your body with the saturated fat from coconut oil, it helps to regulate blood sugar and therefore suppress stress hormones.

Stress hormones can directly inhibit the thyroid gland by suppressing TSH. They suppress thyroid hormone conversion in the liver. They also increase Reverse T3 production. In general, hypothyroidism sufferers overproduce stress hormones.

Many people experience a greater sense of satiety and improved blood sugar control after replacing PUFAs with coconut oil in their diet.

3. Coconut oil protects cell mitochondria against stress and injury, both of which suppress thyroid function. I talk a lot about the health of your thyroid being largely dictated by your cells ability to utilize thyroid hormone.

PUFAs cause cell damage and alter metabolism on many levels. For starters, I’ve already mentioned that they cause oxidative cell damage which directly damages the cell mitochondria and inhibits your cells ability to utilize thyroid hormone properly.

This is why everyone is so gung-ho on antioxidants today. Everyone is unknowingly pumping their bodies full of bad oils that are causing the very oxidative damage that these antioxidants are trying to protect against.

Coconut oil acts as a potent antioxidant by helping to offset the pro-oxidative effects of the PUFAs, which in turn improves mitochondria and cell health, and promotes the healthy use of thyroid hormone by your cells.

Fractions of coconut oil are now even being used by medicine in the treatment of many kinds of cancers, which in itself goes to show you that coconut oil does play a direct role in improving cellular energy production and therefore improving thyroid function.

What Kind of Coconut Oil Is Best for Thyroid Health?

As with most health foods, as they become increasing popular, more and more low quality products begin to hit the market. Coconut oil is no different.

This is why it’s important to get coconut oil from a reputable source, since the chemical processing often negates the benefits of the oil itself and introduces other potential harmful components.

This is what has driven most people to rely on unrefined virgin coconut oil, but even this isn’t ideal for most people since unrefined coconut oil still contains coconut particulate which can irritate the digestive tract and increase estrogen and stress hormone production.

This is why often times a properly refined (expeller pressed) coconut oil can be a much better option for thyroid health.

Watch this Video HERE - The Coconut & Thyroid Connection - Coconut Oil Benefits for Thyroid Health

Read these related articles:

10 Hypothyroidism Diet Tips to Help Heal Your Thyroid

What is a Good Diet for Hypothyroidism?

3 Ways Coffee Can Help Heal YourThyroid

5 Worst Cooking Oils for YourThyroid

Author Bio:

Tom Brimeyer – The author of Hypothyroidism Revolution – is a practitioner of functional medicine, health researcher and author on nutrition, hormones and hypothyroidism.

His personal mission is to inspire and educate people to take control and achieve true health by correcting their hypothyroidism and underlying causes of their health problems instead of being stuck relying on doctors and drugs that merely cover up their symptoms while their health continues to suffer.

For more details on his program, click on HypothyroidismRevolution.com