Thyroid
Last year the CDC stated that 74% of Americans were overweight or obese. Today you can’t find statistics on the number of people who are overweight. You can only find the percentage of obese and morbidly obese in America because the data is so striking (41.9% obese 2017-2020). In 2012, the Endocrine Society projected that 40% of Americans would be overweight or obese by 2030, yet we have by far surpassed that prediction by 2020! Clearly, highly processed foods, inactivity, and emotional eating contribute to this. But could a large percentage of the population have a common hormonal imbalance?
Thyroid hormones control basal metabolic rate and body temperature. This is the rate at which our bodies burn calories to generate energy and heat. If thyroid hormone levels are too high, a person’s metabolism speeds up and they can end up nervous with a rapid heartbeat, sweating, and lose weight despite an excess in calories. A high thyroid hormone level is called hyperthyroidism. The opposite is true for low levels of thyroid hormones, called hypothyroidism.
Hypothyroidism
In hypothyroidism, metabolism slows down due to low production of thyroid hormones. This can cause fatigue, brain fog, depression, slow speech, need for more sleep yet never feeling rested, feeling cold or cold hands and feet, dry skin, slow heart rate, swelling, inflammation, pain, low immune function, blood sugar imbalances, high cholesterol, weakness, exercise intolerance, low stomach acidity, poor digestion, nutrient deficiency, and weight gain without an excess in calories. Wow, that’s a lot of symptoms! Ironically, hypothyroidism is much more common in women, especially during periods of stress or hormonal changes (after a pregnancy for example). The worst part is that many women think this is just part of the normal aging process and I’m here to tell you it isn’t.
I’m going to get right to the point on this. People with low thyroid function (hypothyroidism) used to be given a replacement medication and felt much better but today the replacement medication does not restore health in many people, and they continue to struggle with symptoms. To make matters worse the typical testing for low thyroid levels does not catch all cases and they’ve consistently changed the normal range to include hypothyroid people. This could be why nationally body temperatures have declined and why obesity rates have skyrocketed.
Issue with Normal Ranges
I have been giving students a case study on hypothyroidism where they have to compare a hypothetical patient’s laboratory values with normal ranges. In 2014 when I first used this case study the patient’s thyroid levels were clearly very low compared to normal ranges. Now the normal ranges have changed so much that the case patient’s levels are only slightly low and if this trend in changing normal ranges continues the case patient will be considered normal. Because many people with low thyroid levels are not diagnosed with these “new normal” ranges, they end up on multiple medications for all the symptoms of low thyroid (antidepressants, statins, anti-inflammatories, and blood pressure medications for example). If you ask me pharmaceutical companies benefit from this misinformation and the business of symptom management instead of treating the root cause. If you would like to know more about thyroid health, I highly recommend Dr. Gervis’s Substack, especially about intracellular hypothyroidism.
References:
1. https://www.cdc.gov/obesity/adult-obesity-facts/index.html
2. https://www.forbes.com/health/weight-loss/obesity-statistics/
7. https://www.informedchoicewa.org/health-hour-the-root-cause-of-polypharmacy/
Author Info
Zana Carver, Ph.D. is a Senior Associate Professor of Biology who teaches Human Anatomy & Physiology. She has survived thyroid cancer and a thyroidectomy in 2005.
And medication for putting on weight...you must include