Page 46 - Winter2017

Reading Between the Lines

By Merinda Teller

Modern Assaults on the Thyroid

In the Thyroid health is critically important. The recognize them thus far.” ) They include:
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modern thyroid gland—which makes and secretes hor- Type 1 (the failure to produce sufficient
mones that regulate metabolism—influences •
era, the small cells, tissues and organs throughout the body. thyroid hormones)
but mighty As one thyroid expert puts it, “Without your • Type 2 (thyroid hormone resistance, where
1
thyroid thyroid, you’d wind down like a child’s toy.” the body is unable to recognize or use the
Unfortunately, in the modern era the small
thyroid hormones that it produces)
gland—and but mighty thyroid gland—and the entire en- • Type 3 (autoimmune thyroid disease, in-
the entire docrine system of which it is a part—are under cluding Hashimoto’s)
endocrine attack from many directions. An estimated • Type 4 (severe selenium deficiency) 6
twenty million Americans suffer from some • Type 5 (Wilson’s Thyroid Syndrome).
system of type of disorder that affects the thyroid, with
which it is women far more likely (five to eight times) than According to Dr. Thompson, the five types
a part—are men to have thyroid problems. According to are not necessarily mutually exclusive.
For virtually all of these thyroid-related
the American Thyroid Association, more than
under attack 12 percent of the U.S. population will develop conditions, dietary and environmental factors
from many a thyroid condition in their lifetime. Even so, are major parts of the problem. Aspects of mod-
7
2
directions. many conventional health care workers fail ern life that are contributing to thyroid disease
to recognize and accurately diagnose thyroid include the Standard American high-soy, lowfat
problems. and fat-soluble-vitamin-deficient diet; iodine
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imbalances; and exposure to toxic substances,
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HYPOTHYROIDISM notably fluoride. Diet and detoxification
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Eight out of ten individuals with a thyroid should, therefore, represent critical elements of
disorder have an underactive thyroid (hypothy- any solution. As holistic nutritionist Dr. Ronda
roidism). Most often, this will be Hashimoto’s Nelson states, “Don’t fix your thyroid, feed it!” 11
thyroiditis, an autoimmune condition in which
the immune system attacks (and eventually in- THYROID-UNFRIENDLY SOY
capacitates) the thyroid as if it were an enemy. A singular feature of the modern American
Hashimoto’s is on the rise but is already the diet is its reliance on and love affair with myriad
most common autoimmune disease in the U.S., forms of cheap industrially processed soy. As
prompting massive sales of synthetic thyroid Michael Pollan has observed, “A food scientist
hormones. Thyroid authority Raphael Kellman can construct just about any processed food he
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makes the important point that Hashimoto’s or she can dream up” with soy (as well as corn
actually is not a thyroid disease but rather “an and “a handful of synthetic additives”). 12
autoimmune disease that affects the thyroid.” 4 Long-time Wise Traditions readers will
Based on years of clinical observation, Dr. know, however, that soy isoflavones inhibit the
Robert Thompson, author of The Calcium Lie, enzyme thyroid peroxidase (TPO), that plays a
5
has developed five distinct categories of hypo- key role in thyroid hormone synthesis, and they
thyroidism that illustrate the many different also interfere with thyroid hormone production:
ways that thyroid health can go awry. (He admits “This interference can cause a drop in thyroid
that “the medical profession does not generally hormone levels, an increase in thyroid stimulat-

46 Wise Traditions WINTER 2017