The thyroid plays a crucial role in controlling your body’s metabolism, or the rate at which your cells perform their duties. This organ interacts with cells in the body through the hormones it produces, and if it's not producing enough, you will feel weak, cold, and not very well.

The thyroid controls how fast your body turns the food you consume and the oxygen you breathe into energy amongst other things.

It is estimated that approximately 10 million Americans have low thyroid function or a thyroid hormone deficiency.

How Mainstream Medicine Treats Low Thyroid

Low thyroid hormone output is usually treated with pharmaceutical thyroid hormone replacement. The problem with these drugs is that you can receive too much medication and experience a range of symptoms like rapid heart rate, nervousness, vomiting, irritability, or even hair loss or decreased bone density.¹⁷

How To Support Your Thyroid Naturally

Luckily, nutrition can play a huge role in determining the health and function of your thyroid.

There are two steps to nutritionally boost your thyroid so that this gland functions in a healthy, vital, and youthful way.

1. First, supply your thyroid with the micronutrients – vitamins, and minerals – it needs to flourish.
2. Second, boost your thyroid’s performance with natural remedies like herbs that vitalize your thyroid gland in a non-toxic way.

Natural Remedies to Support Normal Thyroid Function

1. Kelp

The thyroid produces T4 and T3 by combining the mineral iodine with the amino acid tyrosine.¹ It is estimated that about 2 billion people, or 30% of the world’s population, might still be deficient in iodine.² And many people are cutting back on salt because too much salt triggers inflammation, a negative effect on cardiovascular health, and other conditions.

Seaweed is the richest edible source of iodine in nature, and kelp is a dense source of this mineral. Kelp also contains a host of other healthy minerals as well as antioxidants like flavonoids, carotenoids, and alkaloids that fight disease-causing oxidative stress^ƚ.

A little bit of kelp goes a long way since its iodine content is so rich. To illustrate, you can get more than your required daily amount of iodine by taking a small pill or capsule of kelp.

2. Selenium

This mineral plays an important role in generating a critical antioxidant in the human body – glutathione – that protects your body against oxidative stress and detoxifies harmful agents so that they don’t damage your cells and cause health problems, Selenium is also critical for thyroid health^ƚ.

It makes sense to discusses selenium after iodine because your thyroid needs both of these minerals to thrive. Indications are that your gland can’t be healthy with a deficiency in one of them.

Selenium is essential for converting the less-active T4 into T3, as the enzyme that makes this conversion is selenium-dependent.³

In several studies,selenium appears to play a role in protecting the thyroid gland from autoimmune attacks by the body’s own immune system^ƚ.³ Part of the reason for this is that selenium is needed for the thyroid to make the powerful glutathione antioxidant which protects the tissue. Blood tests have confirmed that thyroid autoantibodies (measures of autoimmune activity) decreased by 40% after selenium supplementation^ƚ.^{4, 5, 6}

3. Ashwagandha

This is an herb that has been used for thousands of years in Indian ayurvedic medicine. It is an adaptogenic herb, which means that it balances out the hormones in your body when they’re out of balance^ƚ. Adaptogens fight stress but also give you energy. In short, they bring your body back into balance.

Research in humans and rodents has shown that Ashwagandha can also bolster thyroid function^ƚ. In humans, more thyroid hormone was produced as a result of daily supplementation. Patients’ levels increased in the range of 7-24%.⁷ In rodents, T3 levels increased by 18% and T4 by 111% over a two-week administration of Ashwagandha.⁸

4. Zinc

Zinc is another crucial mineral for thyroid function. Low levels of it have been convincingly correlated with hypothyroidism, and supplementation with it has increased thyroid levels in humans^ƚ.⁹ To perform properly, it’s thought that T3 receptors on cells require zinc.¹⁰

5. Tyrosine

Tyrosine is an amino acid that is a precursor to thyroid hormone and some neurotransmitters, such as dopamine and norepinephrine. Iodine combines with tyrosine to make thyroid hormone.

“Reductions in tyrosine levels” with thyroid hormone reductions in humans.¹¹ And interrupting tyrosine metabolism has actually been shown to induce thyroid autoimmunity.¹²

Chronic stress can reduce thyroid hormone output, and tyrosine supplementation has shown to reverse the lack of thyroid hormone in stressed mice¹³

6. Cayenne Pepper

Cayenne is a stimulating spice that can ease the symptoms of hypothyroidism largely because it boosts metabolic rate^ƚ.¹⁴ If your body is functioning slowly, this pepper can pump you up a bit and give you a nice stimulating moderate boost of energy^ƚ!

Cayenne enhances energy expenditure and weight loss^ƚ.¹⁴

7. Magnesium

This mineral is one of the most-needed nutrients, as it is responsible for over 300 enzymatic reactions in your body. In other words, it's necessary for everything to work. And the thyroid is no exception to magnesium’s influence

Magnesium can prevent thyroid hormone reduction caused by intense exercise, and magnesium deficiency interrupts the synthesis of T4.^{15, 16}

Do You Want To Support Your Thyroid Naturally?