I've heard the comment many times from many different sources, "it seems like EVERYONE has a thyroid problem these days."  It's not because Americans just have naturally weak thyroids. There are 3 potential thyroid disruptors that we are exposed to regularly that will interfere with the thyroid.

If you look at the periodic table below, focus your attention to column 17.  These are the halogens.  The halogens include the five elements: fluorine, chlorine, bromine, iodine, and astatine.

What does this have to do with the thyroid?  One of these elements (iodine) is an essential building block of thyroid hormones.  Iodine is also instrumental in giving other glandular tissues its architecture. 

If you have ever had your T3 or T4 tested, the corresponding number (3 or 4) represents the amount of iodine attached to the T (Tyrosine - more about this in point #2).  

The issue is the abundance of other halogens in American life.  Fluorine, chlorine, and bromine compete with iodine to be taken in by our cells.  The more competition, the harder it is for the thyroid (and other glandular tissues) to use iodine.  It's like sugar and vitamin C.  Whatever is more abundant, gets used.

Americans are regularly exposed to chlorine and fluoride in our municipal drinking water (tap water).   Whether it's consumed in beverages or used for showers.  This is why I'm a huge advocate of NOT drinking tap water.   Many toothpastes contain fluoride as well, which your child routinely swallows.  If your child's toothpaste contains fluoride, it will also most likely contain a poison control label. 

SIDE NOTE:  “Fluoride” and “fluorine” are not mutually exclusive. Not only are they not mutually exclusive, but fluoride is fluorine; every fluoride ion is in fact a fluorine atom. Fluoride is not derived from fluorine, and is not a fluorine compound, it is fluorine. The difference between the terms “fluoride” and “fluorine” is simply that the former is more specific, the latter more general. 

With COVID, people have been crazy about chlorine-based cleaners and we're all aware of the "swimming pool" smell.  

What about bromine?  The food that is most known to contain the highest concentrations of bromine are grain-based products.  Wheat, corn, soy, and other grains are often contaminated with bromine-containing pesticides.  

More specifically, I'm referring to the herbicide glyphosate.  You may know this better from the brand name of Round-Up.  It's been around since the 70s.  Despite the US being only 4-5% of the world's population, we use 20% of the world's supply each year.

How does this disrupt the thyroid?

Glyphosate stops a specific enzyme pathway, called the shikimate pathway.  The shikimate pathway is essential for certain plants and some other microorganisms to make certain proteins for growth.  

Those proteins (amino acids) are tryptophan, phenylalanine, and tyrosine.   

Tyrosine is the building block of thyroid hormone.  It's the "T" in T3 and T4.  The body doesn't like counterfeit building blocks.  It's possible that if you are consuming a lot of food that has been been treated with glyphosate, thus creating damaged versions of tyrosine, the body will stop trying to incorporate those damaged proteins into hormone production.   Therefore, the body may create anti-bodies to protect you.   Don't always think of an autoimmune reaction as the body attacking itself but more over protecting itself.  

But tyrosine isn't just for the thyroid.  It helps produce melanin (skin) as well as some neurotransmitters like dopamine (pleasure, motivation, and reward).  

With the first 2 points being said, if you're worried about your thyroid, ditching grains (especially non-organic ones from the US) might be one of the best things you can do.  It hits a double whammy of avoiding excess bromine as well as the herbicides that destroy tyrosine.

Food for thought (yes, pun intended).  Gluten can be disruptive to the gut, but what if it's more the combo of US-based grains that have been sprayed with glyphosate?  I say that because I've had celiac patients vacation in Europe and they warned me that they would be partaking in the breads, pastas, and pastries.  And guess what?  No gut issues.

This is more of a hypothesis of mine.  It's not unheard of that too much stress can disrupt the thyroid due to the pituitary using its energy to tell the adrenals to get you out of danger. 

But what about being too comfortable?  

The thyroid controls metabolism.  

Metabolism is a process where the food you take into your body is transformed into energy. 

Energy is the ability to do work.  

Work is the transfer of energy from one object to another, especially in order to make the second object move in a certain direction.

Due to all the comfort we experience here in the USA, like our occupations, lifestyle habits, and daily routines, we are NOT physically, routinely, transferring energy to move a second object.  Therefore, we don't need as much energy production from metabolism as initiated by the thyroid.  As a result, the thyroid is going to relax and do the bare minimum (conserve energy production) with the long term consequences of creating an under performing thyroid and slow metabolism. 

Dr. James DiNicolantonio states that if you are able to do the following, you are in the top 1% of the population:

- Perform 10 strict pullups

- Perform 30 strict pushups

- Perform 20 dips

- Run 1 mile without being gassed

If that list looks impossible, maybe you have a crisis of being too comfortable for too long.  It doesn't mean you're screwed, it just means you're probably going to be perpetually chasing your TSH with medication and perpetually be frustrated that you don't feel good even when your TSH is "managed."