Hyperlipid: Are you free, T3?
"You can get an idea of whether the brain thinks there is enough T3 sitting on its receptors by whether it is asking for more. It asks for more using (eventually, after several steps) TSH, thyroid stimulating hormone. This is released from the pituitary as a signal to the thyroid to increase production.
So the rule of thumb with a suspected hypothyroid patient is to ask whether the TSH level is elevated, ie is the brain unhappy with the current thyroid level. When you don't have the time or finances available for that courier to swim the Atlantic, this is what we use. It's a surrogate, but useful."
"However, even with the greater fall in total T3 under LC eating, the brain is happy with whatever level of free T3 it is "seeing", as judged by TSH level. Should the brain be happy?
There are hints. In particular the TEE was reduced least in the LC phase of the study. There was a reduction in TEE of course. But less than for either of the other two phases imposing weight stability at reduced BMI. Despite the largest drop in total T3. It seems like a reasonable idea that both free T3 and receptor bound T3 might actually be higher under LC eating. As so many times, we will never know.
Another way of looking at the change would be to consider whether as much free T3 is needed on a LC diet. Sam Knox provided this rather nice link in the comments to The lost 300 post. It's certainly worth thinking about. Of course, I quite like the idea. But then I would!
So will low carbohydrate eating lead to thyroid deficiency? Who knows, in the long term. This was a very short study. But in this paper the brain seems quite happy with 108ng/dl of total T3 as judged by a TSH of 1.11microIU/ml."
It doesn't make logical sense that low-carb eating can ever cause hypothyroid LONG TERM (although it may appear to do so in the short-term). The problem is that low-carb eating is almost always synonymous with intermittent fasting/(starving) and caloric restriction with people trying to lose weight. The only logical thing that would cause the thyroid to not be able to produce enough T4/T3 is because it has been catabolized due to low calorie eating. Otherwise, the organ will stay strong and be able to play its roll in the body.
"You can get an idea of whether the brain thinks there is enough T3 sitting on its receptors by whether it is asking for more. It asks for more using (eventually, after several steps) TSH, thyroid stimulating hormone. This is released from the pituitary as a signal to the thyroid to increase production.
So the rule of thumb with a suspected hypothyroid patient is to ask whether the TSH level is elevated, ie is the brain unhappy with the current thyroid level. When you don't have the time or finances available for that courier to swim the Atlantic, this is what we use. It's a surrogate, but useful."
"However, even with the greater fall in total T3 under LC eating, the brain is happy with whatever level of free T3 it is "seeing", as judged by TSH level. Should the brain be happy?
There are hints. In particular the TEE was reduced least in the LC phase of the study. There was a reduction in TEE of course. But less than for either of the other two phases imposing weight stability at reduced BMI. Despite the largest drop in total T3. It seems like a reasonable idea that both free T3 and receptor bound T3 might actually be higher under LC eating. As so many times, we will never know.
Another way of looking at the change would be to consider whether as much free T3 is needed on a LC diet. Sam Knox provided this rather nice link in the comments to The lost 300 post. It's certainly worth thinking about. Of course, I quite like the idea. But then I would!
So will low carbohydrate eating lead to thyroid deficiency? Who knows, in the long term. This was a very short study. But in this paper the brain seems quite happy with 108ng/dl of total T3 as judged by a TSH of 1.11microIU/ml."
It doesn't make logical sense that low-carb eating can ever cause hypothyroid LONG TERM (although it may appear to do so in the short-term). The problem is that low-carb eating is almost always synonymous with intermittent fasting/(starving) and caloric restriction with people trying to lose weight. The only logical thing that would cause the thyroid to not be able to produce enough T4/T3 is because it has been catabolized due to low calorie eating. Otherwise, the organ will stay strong and be able to play its roll in the body.