Functional medicine expert Dr. Susan Blum discusses the nutrients that are important for optimal thyroid health. Watch Dr. Blum's video for information on thyroid health and fighting fatigue.
Minerals that are important for optimal thyroid health are zinc, selenium and iodine. Now Iodine is a mineral that is required to make all of your thyroid hormones. Those numbers when you see T4 or T3, that stands for how many iodine molecules are actually in the hormone. So you must have iodine to make thyroid hormones.
So that's iodine. The second one is selenium is absolutely required for the enzyme that takes T4 and activates it into T3. T3 is the more active form of the thyroid hormone. So people who are low in selenium actually can feel hypothyroid, can feel like their hormones are low even though some of the other numbers look OK.
So selenium is really important, and finally zinc. Zinc also helps all your thyroid hormones work and it especially helps inside the cell where the thyroid hormones go to stimulate activity.
The thyroid is a butterfly-shaped gland at the base of the throat that regulates metabolism. Hypothyroidism (underactive thyroid) slows down metabolism and can cause weight gain. Learn about hypothyroidism's other symptoms and treatment.
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