Transcription
There's one really important nutrient involved with hypothyroidism that you need to know about now. This also relates to a hyperthyroidism too, so if you have any problems with your thyroid, this video is going to be very, very important.
Now, the first thing to know is that 90 percent of all hypothyroid problems is an autoimmune disease called Hashimoto's. In most cases of hyperthyroidism is also an autoimmune condition. What is an autoimmune condition? It's a situation where you have cells made by your own body, okay? There are very specific types of antibodies against the body's little cells that actually attack your thyroid. So you have these cells that are programmed to think that your thyroid is like a pathogen. So these antibodies attack your thyroid and prevent it from functioning, and they create a constant inflammatory condition as well. And ninety percent of all hypothyroid cases are autoimmune.
Now let's talk about this one nutrient that's really important. You probably thought it would be iodine. It's not. Iodine is very, very important because without iodine, you can't make thyroid hormones. But selenium, selenium is really important, and you're going to understand why in a minute because most of the selenium in your body is mostly concentrated in your thyroid if you go by the weight of that tissue. And if you have a hypothyroid condition, chances are you're probably deficient in selenium. It's very, very common to have a deficiency.
And when you get diagnosed with this autoimmune disease, okay, the three main antibodies that they find a problem with involves one that's called thyroid peroxidase. So these antibodies to thyroid peroxidase really, uh, inhibit your ability to make thyroid hormones because one of the functions of thyroid peroxidase is the production, the synthesis of thyroid hormones. And so you can just imagine by blocking that, you're not going to make enough thyroid hormones, thus having a lowered amount of thyroid hormones. That's called hypothyroidism.
And then there's another one, okay, that involves the receptor for thyroid stimulating hormone. That's that hormone from the pituitary that's sent down to the blood that connects to the thyroid and tells the thyroid to make thyroid hormones. And that receptor is called thyroglobulin receptor. So if you have antibodies against that receptor, you're not able to receive the message that tells the thyroid to make thyroid hormones. So you can imagine what kind of problems you're going to have if you have antibodies to these three parts.
But the good news is that selenium can help significantly reduce these antibodies, and it's something natural that you can take, and it's in your food. But you can take it in small amounts to help you. Also, selenium improves the thyroid as a whole, okay? So that's another benefit. Selenium also helps you convert T4 to T3. T3 is the active form, T4 is not. So T4 really doesn't do much in your body unless it's converted with the help of selenium. I mean, think about this. Let's say, for example, you don't have enough selenium, and you're taking Synthroid, for example, which is T4, synthetic T4, and your problem is you can't convert it to the active form, you're not going to see much change. You might have normal T4 in your blood, but what about the T3? You really need to look at that to make sure that is, uh, insufficient amounts. And so the point is, like, where's the real problem? Is it in the conversion? Is it in the production?
Selenium has also been known to decrease myxedema, which is a big problem for hypothyroid situations. It looks like fat, but it's not fat. It's like the puffiness that is throughout the body that makes you look fat, but it's not an actual fat.
Now, selenium also decreases inflammation. Why? Because it's involved in making glutathione, one of the most powerful, um, antioxidants in the body. And this is why selenium is so important with your liver as well, and that's a whole different topic. But selenium can help prevent a fatty liver, it can help prevent inflammation in the liver, it can help prevent fibrosis in your liver, it can decrease your liver enzymes, it can even decrease the risk of liver cancer.
Now, selenium is also high in certain types of fish. And so if you're concerned about getting mercury from certain fish, fish also has selenium, which makes this protein that helps get rid of mercury and cadmium. Now, mercury has been linked to autoimmune conditions of your thyroid, and cadmium by itself directly inhibits the production of thyroid hormones. So here's yet another reason why selenium is so important for these conditions.
Selenium even decreased the risk of getting an autoimmune condition because apparently, when you're low in selenium, there's a higher level of initiation of autoimmune problems. It's kind of like the match that triggers the fire. And also, as a byproduct of thyroid metabolism, you have this hydrogen peroxide. So selenium helps you make glutathione that helps you deal with this hydrogen peroxide, which is, you can create a toxicity in your thyroid. Also, when you get Graves' disease, which is a hyperthyroid problem, a lot of times you get these bulging eyes. Well, selenium helps reduce that symptom too.
Now, where do you get selenium? Well, it's in meat, it's in fish, it's in eggs, it's in dairy, cruciferous vegetables like cabbage and broccoli, it's in nuts, it's in onions, it's in garlic, and it's definitely in organ meats. Selenium can also help decrease the risk of getting those thyroid nodules, and it can even help prevent the enlargement of your thyroid. And your thyroid has other mechanisms of accumulating selenium, helping recycling it, and making sure that you're not ending up in a low selenium situation.
I hope you now know the importance of selenium as it relates to the thyroid. As far as doses go of selenium, of course, I would always recommend eating foods high in selenium. But I would recommend 200 micrograms of selenium each day in a nice base of other trace minerals just to make sure you're not, you know, creating an imbalance. And if it is true that you have these antibodies, you have this autoimmune condition, whether it's Graves' or Hashimoto's, I also recommend another product. I don't sell it, I'm not affiliated with the company that does, but it's called Thytrophin PMG. It's from a product developed by Standard Process, okay? So you can look that up. You would take one before bed, and that works a little bit differently. But I think the combination of both of these would be very, very important in helping you recover. And for more information about that, I included that in this video right here. You should check it out.