Can a Detox Help Your Thyroid?

Many chemicals in our environment have the potential to disrupt thyroid function. They include everyday household products, prescription drugs, and chemicals used in agriculture and manufacturing. These chemicals end up in our water, air, food, and eventually, in our blood, fat stores, liver, breast milk, and babies.

These chemicals often break down very slowly. They can persist in the environment for years after they are banned, and in our bodies even long after our exposure to them has ended. They can cause hypo- or hyperthyroidism. They can cause autoimmune problems including Hashimoto’s thyroiditis and Graves disease. Some impair T3 activation of thyroid b-receptor sites on cells, causing a thyroid hormone resistance-like syndrome. In this setting,T3 and T4 blood tests may be normal or high and TSH may be normal or low.

Our liver is the organ most responsible for breaking down toxins and helping us to excrete them. Enzymes in the liver break down toxins, which are then excreted in bile or urine. But the liver can easily be overwhelmed, and even harmed, by its task when the toxic load becomes too much. That’s why it is important to limit your exposure to toxins as much as possible, and to make sure your liver gets all the help it can to do its job.

You can limit your exposure to toxins by eating only organic foods, drinking only purified water, taking drugs only when absolutely necessary, and using only environmentally-safe household cleaning products and personal hygiene products. That includes avoiding many anti-bacterial soaps and no-water hand sanitizers.

You can also help crank up detoxifying liver enzymes with certain nutrients, such as vitamin C and selenium, and foods like cruciferous veggies (cabbage, broccoli, watercress) beets, onions and garlic, herbs such as milk thistle, or silymarin and spices like turmeric. A typical detox diet will limit your exposure to toxins, add lots of detoxifying foods, and include plenty of clean water and soluble fiber to help your liver and kidneys move toxic waste out of your body. There are many different kinds of detox programs. I suggest you so some research and pick one that works best for you, especially if you have hypothyroidism or an autoimmune disorder.

Additionally, if your body temperature is consistently low—97.8 F (36.56 C) or lower–you may have low thyroid function. This causes low metabolism, which interferes with many of the biochemical processes in the body, including detoxification in the liver. Taking a course of T3, active thyroid hormone, may raise your body temperature back to normal and help all these metabolic cleansing functions to work better. (For details, see “How is Body Temperature Measured?”) Your doctor can call us at 800.420.5801 to get more information about how to use T3 and to discuss your individual case.

REFERENCES
Brent GA. Environmental exposures and autoimmune thyroid disease. Thyroid. 2010 Jul;20(7):755-61.

Cornejo P, Vargas R, Videla LA. Nrf2-regulated phase-II detoxification enzymes and phase-III transporters are induced by thyroid hormone in rat liver. Biofactors. 2013 Sep-Oct;39(5):514-21.

Faustino LC, Pires RM, Lima AC, et al. Liver glutathione S-transferase expression is decreased by 3,5,3-triiodothyronine in hypothyroid but not in euthyroid mice. Exp Physiol. 2011 Aug;96(8):790-800.

Goldner WS, Sandler DP, Yu F, et al. Pesticide use and thyroid disease among women in the Agricultural Health Study. Am J Epidemiol. 2010 Feb 15;171(4):455-64.

Miller MD, Crofton KM, Rice DC et al. Thyroid-Disrupting Chemicals: Interpreting Upstream Biomarkers of Adverse Outcomes. Environ Health Perspect. 2009 Jul;117(7):1033-41.