Healthy Gut Bacteria Help Raise T3 (according To Chris Kresser)

Kasper

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From the thyroid disorders ebook of chris kresser:

One little known role of the gut bacteria is to assist in converting inactive T4 into the
active form of thyroid hormone, T3. About 20 percent of T4 is converted to T3 in the GI
tract, in the forms of T3 sulfate (T3S) and triidothyroacetic acid (T3AC). The conversion of
T3S and T3AC into active T3 requires an enzyme called intestinal sulfatase.

Where does intestinal sulfatase come from? You guessed it: healthy gut bacteria.
Intestinal dysbiosis, an imbalance between pathogenic and beneficial bacteria in the gut,
significantly reduces the conversion of T3S and T3AC to T3. This is one reason why
people with poor gut function may have thyroid symptoms but normal lab results.
Inflammation in the gut also reduces T3 by raising cortisol. Cortisol decreases active T3
levels while increasing levels of inactive T3.

What do you guys think about this ?
 

pboy

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not really sure, I mean having a healthy gut is a pretty obvious factor in good thyroid status. I don't know what this means he's recommending...never antibiotics, and pro probiotics?

I just cant really think that its a good thing in any way to 'promote' gut bacteria. That inevitably comes with fermentation and byproducts that are undesirable. If bacteria do convert T4 into t3, is he sure that its actually then absorbable and usable? I don't know really, my opinion based on experience is that its best to basically pretend theres no such thing as gut bacteria, there might as well not be. Ive never seen, felt, or sensed them in any fashion...know what I mean? People will use antibiotics and probiotics and all that, but really, health issues never have to do with that, and it prevents people looking at other more meaningful things. If someone gets an infection and is sick, then antibiotics might make sense, but otherwise ...and even for me, personally, I wouldn't use them ever really...if its toxic to them its toxic to humans albeit on a more subtle level. Microbes are always responding to some other problem, they never just ruthlessly attack innocent people. Its like fruit flies...they seemingly appear out of no where when fruit is damaged, otherwise they aren't there, and as soon as you remove the damaged fruit, they disappear.

So I guess what I think about it is that it might or might not be true, but its not something you can actually manipulate or work on..its much better to just focus on thyroid in the more known ways that make sense and don't involve potentially unknown variables, which by trying to manipulate you might do more damage than good
 
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Kasper

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its much better to just focus on thyroid in the more known ways that make sense and don't involve potentially unknown variables, which by trying to manipulate you might do more damage than good

I kind of agree, I think what I'm trying to say is that manipulating your gut with antibiotics may have undesirable effects. Maybe if your gut is really messed up, than having not gut flora is better than having a messed up gut flora.

But I think the view that Ray Peat and other people have tha having a sterile gut may be best for health is kind of a dangerous view. Especially, as it may be allmost impossible to get a healthy balanced gut flora back.
 

jyb

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pboy said:
not really sure, I mean having a healthy gut is a pretty obvious factor in good thyroid status. I don't know what this means he's recommending...never antibiotics, and pro probiotics?

I just cant really think that its a good thing in any way to 'promote' gut bacteria. That inevitably comes with fermentation and byproducts that are undesirable.

Promoting gut bacteria? There are studies measuring how long lasting the effects are in the gut, so some milk fermented products do colonise the gut for a while. These same bacteria can be anti-inflammatory. Although it is work in progress and complicated (many probiotics products and strains have no effect), some studies suggest a few strains of the milk fermenting type can be helpful in repairing the gut barrier (poor gut barrier = endotoxin). Since that is probably one of the most important things out there if you ask me, I personally find it worth experimenting with... In terms of safety, the Masai and many current dairy tribes drink almost all milk fermented only, and they seem healthy, so it can't be so unsafe.
 

Makrosky

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Kasper said:
But I think the view that Ray Peat and other people have tha having a sterile gut may be best for health is kind of a dangerous view. Especially, as it may be allmost impossible to get a healthy balanced gut flora back.

Agree with your first sentence. There's fermented food consumption in lots of traditional cultures all over the world.

For the second sentence .... :shock: :shock: :shock: What ? Are you serious ? Why do you think it's impossible ? So let's assume we do carrot salad every other day, are you saying that all the good flora that might be killed along the bad one won't never grow back ? Or the carrot salad doesn't kill good gut bacteria ?
 

Dutchie

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Makrosky said:
jyb said:
in repairing the gut barrier (poor gut barrier = endotoxin).

Can this be done with L-Glutamine as well ?

Yes,L-Glutamine can help seal the gutlining as well. Also,pure Aloe Vera juice does that as well.
Several years ago I had good experiences with sipping a couple of drops daily in the morning. However it got too expensive for me...and it doesn't taste great at all.

Regardless of which approach one takes,the most important factor is to avoid foods one is allergic and intolerant to....bc everytime you ingest some,you'll tear down the work in progress.
And that's the challenge....finding out what foods are problematic bc you don't have to notice big effects from foods that are possibly harmful (at that time). (I did a comprehensive test and it gave me the list of the 76 foods I was intolerant to at the time....but it cost me a fortune).
 

Makrosky

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Dutchie said:
Makrosky said:
jyb said:
in repairing the gut barrier (poor gut barrier = endotoxin).

Can this be done with L-Glutamine as well ?

Yes,L-Glutamine can help seal the gutlining as well. Also,pure Aloe Vera juice does that as well.
Several years ago I had good experiences with sipping a couple of drops daily in the morning. However it got too expensive for me...and it doesn't taste great at all.

Regardless of which approach one takes,the most important factor is to avoid foods one is allergic and intolerant to....bc everytime you ingest some,you'll tear down the work in progress.
And that's the challenge....finding out what foods are problematic bc you don't have to notice big effects from foods that are possibly harmful (at that time). (I did a comprehensive test and it gave me the list of the 76 foods I was intolerant to at the time....but it cost me a fortune).

Thanks for the reply!

Hmmm... 76 foods? Didn't that created you a lot of stress ? It's easy to get really stressed having to avoiding a few common foods, imagine 76....

Also, a couple drops of aloe vera juice daily was really so expensive????
 

YuraCZ

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Makrosky said:
jyb said:
in repairing the gut barrier (poor gut barrier = endotoxin).

Can this be done with L-Glutamine as well ?
And what about glutamine enemas? :shock: It must be super healing for the gut.. And there are also some studies about this.
 

Dutchie

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Makrosky said:
Dutchie said:
Makrosky said:
jyb said:
in repairing the gut barrier (poor gut barrier = endotoxin).

Can this be done with L-Glutamine as well ?

Yes,L-Glutamine can help seal the gutlining as well. Also,pure Aloe Vera juice does that as well.
Several years ago I had good experiences with sipping a couple of drops daily in the morning. However it got too expensive for me...and it doesn't taste great at all.

Regardless of which approach one takes,the most important factor is to avoid foods one is allergic and intolerant to....bc everytime you ingest some,you'll tear down the work in progress.
And that's the challenge....finding out what foods are problematic bc you don't have to notice big effects from foods that are possibly harmful (at that time). (I did a comprehensive test and it gave me the list of the 76 foods I was intolerant to at the time....but it cost me a fortune).

Thanks for the reply!

Hmmm... 76 foods? Didn't that created you a lot of stress ? It's easy to get really stressed having to avoiding a few common foods, imagine 76....

Also, a couple drops of aloe vera juice daily was really so expensive????

That period was the start of my path into the healthfood world,bc previously I'd been eating standard (lowfat)processed foods.
So,yeah,it did take some getting used to and having to come up with what to eat. (It basically came down to a Paleoish diet,as far as food I could tolerate.) but it surely was helpful that I didn't have to figure foods out for myself and just could look at the list of what to avoid.

Pure Aloe juice is quite expensive over here,at the time I was also having to take a lot of other expensive supplements with no job,so it all added up. Really,the taste of it was a deciding factor as well eventually.;)
 
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Kasper

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"Why do you think it's impossible ? So let's assume we do carrot salad every other day, are you saying that all the good flora that might be killed along the bad one won't never grow back ? Or the carrot salad doesn't kill good gut bacteria ?"

I think carrots won't make your gut sterile, I guess carrots won't really kill bacteria in your gut completely. But I'm no expert here.

What I meant to say is that probiotics don't colonize the gut permanently, but you just poop them out again. So if that is true, I don't see an easy way to recolonise the gut once you got rid of some beneficial stains using antibiotics.

Maybe poop transplantation?
 

jyb

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Kasper said:
What I meant to say is that probiotics don't colonize the gut permanently, but you just poop them out again. So if that is true, I don't see an easy way to recolonise the gut once you got rid of some beneficial stains using antibiotics.

It's not permanent but that's true for everything. Including stool transplantation. As soon as you change your diet, your gut will also change. Some studies attempt to measure how long the effect last. But all that is irrelevant in my opinion. If you believe that it has a positive effect, then there's no reason to stop eating it. And if it helps your gut barrier heal because it was damaged due to previous bad habits like wheat, I don't see why the effect wouldn't be permanent provided you didn't resume those habits. So I think the question is more whether it is helpful rather than for how long, because these fermented products are like food so no reason to stop eating them. It's a bit like saying that T3 or calcium are used up and therefore have no permanent effect.
 

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