By Dr. Matsen

A patient of mine suffered from chronic fatigue for years with no improvement, even after seeing practitioners in Los Angeles. She then went to the best endocrinologist in New York who, after doing extensive lab tests, diagnosed her with two autoimmune problems: thyroiditis and lupus (see April 2004 Monthly Comments). After making these diagnoses, however, the endocrinologist told her that there was little that could be done for these “mysterious” conditions.

She tried a number of alternative approaches with no results until she followed my naturopathic program, which, she says, fixed her in just a few weeks. Why was the naturopathic treatment successful when the specialist had failed? The main reason was that I tested her using Applied Kinesiology and found that her liver was the root of the problem. When her liver function improved, her body corrected the thyroid and lupus conditions.

So how can treating the liver fix the thyroid? First, let’s look at how the thyroid works. The thyroid is a small gland, less than an ounce in weight, situated at the lower neck in the front. It has two lobes, like wings, that are located off to the sides. The thyroid makes a simple hormone that is crucial to stimulate cell growth and activity. This hormone is called T4 and it consists of the amino acid tyrosine and four iodine molecules. The pituitary gland secretes TSH (thyroid stimulating hormone), which tells the thyroid gland to make hormones; the thyroid attaches four iodine molecules to a tyrosine and, presto, T4 is made. This relatively inactive hormone is released into the blood where it circulates to every cell in the body. The cells then strip off an iodine molecule to make T3, which is the active hormone that stimulates the cell to work faster.

Obviously, an insufficient supply of thyroid hormone can lead to a sluggish metabolism. Tyrosine is a relatively common amino acid and deficiencies are rare; plus, the amount of iodine the thyroid needs is only 50 milligrams and can easily be supplied by eating seafood such as fish or kelp. If these two basic nutritional requirements are met, there should be no problem with thyroid function.

Troubles with the thyroid usually originate with the addition of the four iodine molecules onto the tyrosine amino acid. A byproduct of this reaction is the formation of deadly toxic peroxides. Peroxides are the source of free radicals that can damage cell membranes in a process called lipid peroxidation. Normally the thyroid protects itself from lipid peroxidation with an enzyme that quickly chops these deadly peroxides into harmless water. This crucial enzyme is called glutathione peroxidase and if it is unable to fully neutralize the peroxides made by the thyroid, then the peroxides can literally “barbecue” the thyroid. This may eventually result in an under- or over-active thyroid, which may or may not involve swelling of this gland, which may or may not involve the immune system.

Thyroid hormone replacement is commonly given if a peroxide-damaged thyroid is unable to make enough hormones, and an overactive peroxidized thyroid is commonly destroyed with drugs or radiation to protect the body from rampaging hormones. However, since glutathione peroxidase enzyme is the crucial guardian of the thyroid against the evils of peroxidation, improving this enzyme is the key to curing the thyroid.

Glutathione peroxidase enzyme needs two nutrients: selenium, which can be supplied easily enough with a 200 micrograms per day supplement, and sulfur, which comes mainly from the amino acid cysteine, found in proteins and especially high in whey. A healthy diet should provide enough selenium and sulfur to keep the thyroid protected from the peroxides it makes.

This is where your liver’s connection with the thyroid comes in. Glutathione peroxidase’s role is to protect more than your thyroid from peroxide damage; in fact, it has this anti-peroxide duty throughout your body. It appears that the liver—which acts as the defender of the body from invaders from the gut—has been given priority status to sequester glutathione peroxidase enzyme from the rest of the body when needed.

My patient says that she was all better after following my program for a few weeks, but it actually took about five weeks to get her diet straightened out and remove yeast from her small intestine, which then reduced the load on her liver by approximately eighty per cent. The article in Better Nutrition Magazine doesn’t mention that it took another two years to remove mercury from her liver to achieve the final twenty per cent of improvement.

The insight from this is that if you are diagnosed with a thyroid problem, whether or not you decide to treat the thyroid directly, you should visit a naturopath and see about improving your liver function.