During the cold, rainy month of January, at least where we live in Portland, Oregon, it’s fitting to address thyroid health. As Goldilocks said of her porridge, this one’s too cold, this one’s too hot, and this one’s just right. If your body isn’t making the right amount of the thyroid hormones thyroxine (T4) and triiodothyronine (T3), you’re likely to find yourself on either side of “just right”.…
Tags: Thyroid Health, Selenium
When getting to the root of health issues by accurate laboratory testing of hormones and other analytes, it’s important to distinguish theories from facts and make sure that our interpretation of the science is valid and corresponds with what is seen clinically. This month, as the weather and the time of year put us in the middle of winter, let’s take a critical look at a hormone sometimes…
The decision to start a regimen of iodine supplementation should be based on a detailed nutritional, physical, and laboratory assessment. Once the need is established, some clinicians go straight for supraphysiologic dosing while others may implement a diet rich in sea vegetables to get the job done. How do you decide where to start? The first step is understanding the different supplement forms…
Tags: Iodine, Elements Testing, Thyroid Health
I’m excited to do this practical piece on iodine therapy because I field a lot of questions on the matter of assessing iodine status, implementing the right iodine supplement, and monitoring that therapy. Iodine performs some crucial roles in the body, but it never acts alone. Therefore, to assess iodine deficiency, it’s imperative to test iodine and its partners - selenium, iron, magnesium, zinc,…
Tags: Iodine, Elements Testing, Thyroid Health
Your thyroid is a small, butterfly-shaped gland located in the lower front part of your neck. Its job is to secrete hormones that control growth/development during childhood, regulate your metabolism and body temperature, and drive the production of many neurotransmitters in your brain. Specifically, the ones that help you feel good and enough have motivation to accomplish your goals: serotonin,…
Tags: Thyroid Health, Mental Health
2017 has arrived, and with it comes new opportunity to understand the role of hormone balance in our overall health. Before getting started, we wanted to take a brief moment to reflect on the top stories of 2016 that captured your attention on the ZRT Blog. Following is a round-up of 2016's most popular posts for patients. For millions of women the world…
Tags: Hormone Balance, Thyroid Health, Lead, Heavy Metals, Breast Cancer
Hypothyroidism is defined as “lack of thyroid hormone production from the thyroid gland.” However, many patients who produce sufficient hormone from the gland still suffer from low thyroid symptoms. When thyroid levels are not within normal ranges, many conventional treatment protocols rush into thyroid replacement therapy. Two problems exist with this approach: If the patient has normal levels of…
Tags: Thyroid Health
A balance of nutrients is required by our bodies to maintain good health, and selenium (Se) is an important one that often gets overlooked. This essential element is a required component of the selenoproteins, which include those that are needed to convert thyroid hormone from the inactive to the active form, and several important anti-oxidants. While optimal selenium levels are imperative for…
Tags: Elements Testing, Thyroid Health, Toxins, Selenium, Mineral Imbalances
As more health care practitioners have understood the need to assess thyroid function based on what is going on at the cellular level, there has been an increasing demand for testing of reverse T3 (rT3), a hormone sometimes referred to as the “hibernation hormone.” However, there is also much confusion about how it fits into the picture of thyroid function, and controversy regarding whether…
Tags: Hormone Balance, Thyroid Health, Research
Thyroid hormones are essential for the normal metabolic functioning of all tissues in the body, and a wide array of symptoms are therefore associated with abnormalities in thyroid hormone production and activation. Even when apparently adequate amounts of thyroxine are produced by the thyroid gland, thyroid function is profoundly affected by anything that disrupts conversion of thyroxine…
Tags: Hormone Balance, Thyroid Health, Research
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