Thyroid deficiency is one of the most common of conditions and often either missed, ignored, or improperly treated.
levothyroxine was isolated in 1914 by Dr Kendall before the FDA existed. It’s assumed he had a patent and had a licensing agreement with Squibb Laboratories at that time. Squibb sold levothyroxine to treat patients with hypothyroidism in 1916 or 1917, even before the FDA existed. When the FDA was created, levothyroxine was grandfathered in.
In the 1950s, a British pharmaceutical company developed a method to make synthetic thyroxine no longer extracted from pigs. The FDA accepted it because they already had grandfathered in the natural product extracted from pigs. The FDA never asked for safety testing or effectiveness of the synthetic levothyroxine.
Since that time the discussion of which works best in the patient has continued. Many say the natural extracted from pigs can’t be counted on as there’s no consistent levels of both T3 and T4. Then there’s the concern that synthetic fails to fully restore function.
With the use of synthetic T3 which is much more powerful than T4, but with a shorter half life there’s the concern of over driving the heart and creating palpitations and tachycardia. These two issues need to be considered when doing any supplementing with thyroid, either natural or synthetic.
In desiccated thyroid extract, we have 4 molecules of T4 to 1 of T3. Our thyroid contains a different ratio. It's like 14 to 1. There's an idea that perhaps the desiccated thyroid extract could give a little bit too much T3. If a patient takes, let's say, 100 mg of desiccated thyroid extract, T3 levels will increase. 3 hours later there will be a T3 peak. Experts think there’s insufficient data on safety for these peaks of T3. A concern is if a patient takes desiccated thyroid extract for life, could these peaks of T3 be a problem with the heart or bone? This has been a historical concern.
There were 20 randomized clinical trials comparing synthetic (T4 and T3) combination therapy with natural thyroid, and the effectiveness and safety was identical. There were no more adverse reactions in the combination therapy as opposed to desiccated thyroid.
There were two clinical trials using desiccated thyroid extract, and they didn't find more adverse reactions as compared with synthetic thyroid. There was a commercially sponsored, multicenter clinical trial with desiccated thyroid extract published at the American Thyroid Association meeting last year, showing again there were no more adverse reactions with desiccated thyroid extract.
With all this information, I’ve seen over the years patients who responded better with the synthetic and those who did better on the natural thyroid in the form of Armour or NP thyroid over the Synthroid.
In all of this, the main question needs to be asked, why do we need to replace the function of one of our endocrine glands? What would cause this organ to fail in suppling what our body needs? Why would any organ of our body not do what it’s designed to do?
The answer is usually as obvious as the nose on our face. If you starve your dog, it will fail to fetch when you tell it to. Our body has specific nutritional requirements. When those basics are ignored and the organ is left to starve, production and function will drop off.
When the thyroid is starved of nutrition, which includes iodine, it might just enlarge in an attempt to create a big enough factory to make levothyroxine. This is called a goiter. Iodine is the primary mineral which comprises thyroxine and triiodothyronine. When this is withheld from the diet your thyroid cannot keep up with production.
Years ago, iodine was added to salt since so much of the nation was suffering from goiter. Unfortunately due to cardiovascular reasons, doctors began to limit sodium intake, cutting out the salt, resulting in lowered thyroid output. Adding to that, many fail to eat sea food and miss iodine which is there.
Because Japan relies heavily on the ocean for their food, the iodine intake of most Japanese is far higher than here in the USA. That being said, obesity in Japan is much lower than here. Another issue is that of iodine requirements elsewhere in the body.
Breast tissue requires iodine, and it’s been seen that the larger the mammary glands, the greater the iodine need. Because of this, it’s seen that larger breasted women tend to suffer from thyroid deficiencies more often unless they include adequate iodine in their diets.
The incidence of breast cancer in Japanese women, eating a traditional high seafood diet is much lower than those not getting adequate iodine in the diet.
levothyroxine was isolated in 1914 by Dr Kendall before the FDA existed. It’s assumed he had a patent and had a licensing agreement with Squibb Laboratories at that time. Squibb sold levothyroxine to treat patients with hypothyroidism in 1916 or 1917, even before the FDA existed. When the FDA was created, levothyroxine was grandfathered in.
In the 1950s, a British pharmaceutical company developed a method to make synthetic thyroxine no longer extracted from pigs. The FDA accepted it because they already had grandfathered in the natural product extracted from pigs. The FDA never asked for safety testing or effectiveness of the synthetic levothyroxine.
Since that time the discussion of which works best in the patient has continued. Many say the natural extracted from pigs can’t be counted on as there’s no consistent levels of both T3 and T4. Then there’s the concern that synthetic fails to fully restore function.
With the use of synthetic T3 which is much more powerful than T4, but with a shorter half life there’s the concern of over driving the heart and creating palpitations and tachycardia. These two issues need to be considered when doing any supplementing with thyroid, either natural or synthetic.
In desiccated thyroid extract, we have 4 molecules of T4 to 1 of T3. Our thyroid contains a different ratio. It's like 14 to 1. There's an idea that perhaps the desiccated thyroid extract could give a little bit too much T3. If a patient takes, let's say, 100 mg of desiccated thyroid extract, T3 levels will increase. 3 hours later there will be a T3 peak. Experts think there’s insufficient data on safety for these peaks of T3. A concern is if a patient takes desiccated thyroid extract for life, could these peaks of T3 be a problem with the heart or bone? This has been a historical concern.
There were 20 randomized clinical trials comparing synthetic (T4 and T3) combination therapy with natural thyroid, and the effectiveness and safety was identical. There were no more adverse reactions in the combination therapy as opposed to desiccated thyroid.
There were two clinical trials using desiccated thyroid extract, and they didn't find more adverse reactions as compared with synthetic thyroid. There was a commercially sponsored, multicenter clinical trial with desiccated thyroid extract published at the American Thyroid Association meeting last year, showing again there were no more adverse reactions with desiccated thyroid extract.
With all this information, I’ve seen over the years patients who responded better with the synthetic and those who did better on the natural thyroid in the form of Armour or NP thyroid over the Synthroid.
In all of this, the main question needs to be asked, why do we need to replace the function of one of our endocrine glands? What would cause this organ to fail in suppling what our body needs? Why would any organ of our body not do what it’s designed to do?
The answer is usually as obvious as the nose on our face. If you starve your dog, it will fail to fetch when you tell it to. Our body has specific nutritional requirements. When those basics are ignored and the organ is left to starve, production and function will drop off.
When the thyroid is starved of nutrition, which includes iodine, it might just enlarge in an attempt to create a big enough factory to make levothyroxine. This is called a goiter. Iodine is the primary mineral which comprises thyroxine and triiodothyronine. When this is withheld from the diet your thyroid cannot keep up with production.
Years ago, iodine was added to salt since so much of the nation was suffering from goiter. Unfortunately due to cardiovascular reasons, doctors began to limit sodium intake, cutting out the salt, resulting in lowered thyroid output. Adding to that, many fail to eat sea food and miss iodine which is there.
Because Japan relies heavily on the ocean for their food, the iodine intake of most Japanese is far higher than here in the USA. That being said, obesity in Japan is much lower than here. Another issue is that of iodine requirements elsewhere in the body.
Breast tissue requires iodine, and it’s been seen that the larger the mammary glands, the greater the iodine need. Because of this, it’s seen that larger breasted women tend to suffer from thyroid deficiencies more often unless they include adequate iodine in their diets.
The incidence of breast cancer in Japanese women, eating a traditional high seafood diet is much lower than those not getting adequate iodine in the diet.
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