The thyroid gland plays a major role in our overall health. The thyroid regulates how our bodies make proteins, how we use the energy our body produces, and has control over how easily affected by certain hormones our body is. Our thyroid uses thyroid-stimulating hormone to control the hormonal output, which is made by the anterior pituitary gland.
When your doctor runs tests for thyroid conditions, illnesses and diseases, they often look closely at the level of thyroid-stimulating hormone found in the thyroid, however, that alone isn't enough to tell them just how effective or ineffective your hormones are working.
Your doctor would still need to run several tests in order to find out how your hormones are working, how your thyroid function is, and what that information means for your overall health.
However, there are many things that can affect your thyroid and how well it functions. Let's take a closer look at these thyroid toxins.
Dangerous Toxins That Can Harm and Destroy Your Thyroid and Inhibit How Well It Functions
There are so many toxins in our world that we can do nothing about. That being said, we do have a little control over how often, and to what extent, our bodies are around these harmful toxins. This practice can decrease the chances of our thyroid being harmed by them in the long run.
You can also supplement with iodine to help protect your thyroid from the dangerous toxins found in our environment every day. Next, we will touch base on seven of the most common toxins that can harm and destroy your thyroid that you encounter every day.
Bromine
Bromine is a flame-retardant substance that can be found almost anywhere, so avoiding it completely is almost impossible. Bromine can be found in pasta, pool cleaners, and seawater.
What many people do not realize is that high levels of Bromine can also be found in healthy people. Bromine has even been used as an ingredient in many sedative drugs. Prolonged exposure to bromine may prove to be dangerous to your thyroid!
Fluoride
More than 60 percent of the American water supply has fluoride in it. This is largely helpful in preventing cavities. What many people do not know is that in the early 20th century, doctors prescribed small amounts of fluoride to patients who suffered from over-active thyroid.
The amount was between 2 and 5 milligrams, over the course of a month. Large amounts of fluoride can slow down even an underactive thyroid, which can prove to be more harmful than many realize.
Plastics
We are all well aware of how harmful plastic is to our environment and how dangerous it is to many ecosystems, especially marine life, but many do not realize that plastic is dangerous to our health as well. Antimony, the chemical that comes from plastic, is only one chemical that causes concern when plastic is concerned.
Recent research has shown that in fruit juices that are packaged and stored in plastic bottles have over 2 times the amount of antimony that is allowed in safe tap water. Research has also shown that phthalates and BPA also have a harmful effect on the thyroid. Both have been shown to hinder the proper function of the thyroid gland!
Soy
By hindering thyroid peroxidase, phytoestrogens in soy proteins have been shown to disrupt normal thyroid functions. How? Well the phytoestrogens make it harder, if not impossible, for the thyroid to allow the body to use iodine. It does so by blocking the hormone and interrupting the peripheral conversion of T4 to T3.
Recent studies have shown that soy-based formula is dangerous for babies too! Babies fed a diet of soy formula have higher levels of thyroid-stimulating hormone, for longer periods of time, as compared to babies who are fed milk based formulas. Many also know that soy is normally a genetically modified food, which makes it dangerous right there, in and of itself.
Pesticides
More than 55 percent of pesticides that are commonly used these days have been found to have dangerous side effects on the thyroid. They are known to hinder the thyroid gland's ability to produce hormones efficiently.
Research has suggested that even if it is a second hand exposure, such as if a woman's husband works with pesticides on a daily basis, it can affect the thyroids of the wives as well as the husbands! That is a scary thought!
The pesticides, anti-fungals and weed killers commonly used on fruit and vegetable farms have also been linked to thyroid function slowing down, which leads to weight loss problems in the people affected by them.
Halogens
Halogens are quite scary, when you really look at it. Chloride and fluoride can cause the iodine to be transported incorrectly, and with them having a similar makeup to iodine, halogens make it harder for your body to create natural iodine, or even worse, render that iodine useless!
Due to the fact that fluoride slows down thyroid function, consuming more than 5 milligrams a day can be extremely dangerous to your thyroid gland's health! How do we encounter these halogens? Well food sources, water and our environment are all ways that halogens make it into our bodies.
Perchlorates
The waste formed by the fuels used to fuel rockets and jets, airbags and fireworks is known as perchlorate. Perchlorate is found in almost everyone on earth, according to the Center of Disease Control. Why is that? Well perchlorates can be found in almost all the water on earth – our drinking water, the water used to water our fruit and vegetable crops, just about everything.
It is almost impossible to avoid perchlorates, as studies have shown. But can we minimize our exposure? We can. By filtering the water we drink and only consuming organically grown fruits and vegetables, we can decrease the harmful effects it has on our thyroid glands.
One Simple Drink Can Help Save You From Thyroid Toxins!
What you need?
- 1 cup of unsweetened 100 percent cranberry juice
- ¼ of a cup of fresh lemon juice
- ¾ of a cup of fresh orange juice
- ½ a tablespoon of ground cinnamon
- ¼ a tablespoon of ground ginger
- ¼ a tablespoon of ground nutmeg
- 7 cups of water
After boiling the water, add the cranberry juice and turn the heat down to low. Add in the nutmeg, ginger and cinnamon, mix it well and let it simmer for about 20 minutes. Allow it time to cool down to room temperature before adding in the lemon and orange juice. This simple beverage is served best over ice and will keep you safe from thyroid toxins.
