How does thyroid hormone affect weight?

, medical expert
Last reviewed: 11.04.2020




The thyroid gland in women is strikingly different from the male - at least by the fact that violations of the work of the first occur 10-20 times more often than in men. According to statistics, thyroiditis (thyroid disease) is 25 times more likely to affect women than a strong sex.


Thyroid gland under the sight of hormones

After 40 years and up to 65 years, both men and women are at increased risk of thyroid disease. True, in women of this age thyroiditis still happens more often than in the strong half of mankind.

It should be known that all types of thyroiditis (bacterial, viral, postpartum, toxic, and others) contribute to the emergence of antibodies that have the property of destroying the tissue of the thyroid gland.

Or another unpleasant property of thyroiditis: they can provoke the destruction of the hormones that the thyroid gland produces.

How does the destruction of the thyroid gland occur?

During the course of thyroiditis, the body produces antibodies - substances that interfere with the work of hormones. Therefore, all the functions of the thyroid gland are under threat.

Antibodies can begin to act long before the thyroid gland can produce hormone protectors. And then the woman experiences unpleasant symptoms, characteristic of thyroid gland diseases, for a very long time. This can be a period of several years.

More risk full women

Most of the antibodies that interfere with the work of the thyroid gland are observed in those women who suffer from excessive fullness. This leads to great and not the best consequences: a slowing of metabolism, the accumulation of adipose tissue, the destruction of muscle tissue and, of course, an even greater set of kilograms.

All these unpleasant consequences can be accompanied by severe pain in the muscles. Doctors call this condition myalgia. On these symptoms, a woman can determine that the thyroid hormones are not in order, and the action of antibodies is too active.

In Norway, in 1996, studies were conducted, which resulted in the evidence that the greatest increase in the number of antibodies doctors observed in those women who complained of muscle pain and at the same time recovered. In men, such symptoms were not found.

Doctors concluded that when treating such women it is worth paying more attention to antibodies - much more than the work of the whole thyroid gland. That is, first of all, in women with such symptoms should check the level of hormones thyroid and antibodies. Then they can be given the optimal treatment.

What can put women at a standstill in the diagnosis? A woman can test her body with hormonal tests, and find that she has an imbalance of thyroid hormones. And ... To hear from the attending physician that her extra pounds are not related to the functioning of the thyroid gland.

This is extremely surprising to a woman who could already read somewhere that thyroid disease - hypothyroidism - is associated with the problem of excess weight. The reason is an increase in appetite due to an elevated level of thyroid hormones.

Without having been examined for hormones, it's hard to imagine that all the woes with excess weight - it is because of this, and not because of your lack of discipline and the inclination to sweet.

If the doctor does not listen to you, he recommends simply closing his mouth to the lock from all sorts of delicious things and going in for sports, and he does not even remember the hormonal tests, do it anyway - on the advice of another doctor.

Than Thyroid Disease Threatens?

  • Uneven menstruation - something meager, then abundant, and always at the wrong time
  • Infertility
  • Depression
  • Chronic Fatigue Syndrome
  • PMS Syndrome
  • Increased cholesterol
  • Impairment of susceptibility to glucose
  • Fibromyalgia (muscle pain plus weight gain)

But these symptoms doctors and patients themselves can connect with mental disorders and not to associate with thyroid gland diseases.

Patients are prescribed psychotropic drugs, which only aggravate all these symptoms, increasing appetite. Maximum - medications just do not help.

Studies show that mentally unbalanced patients sooner or later suffered from thyroid disorders. And it was these diseases that provoked a set of excess weight and depressive conditions.

It is important to undergo hormonal tests at least once a year, as the risk of developing thyroid disease increases with age. Therefore, if the usual tests show that the thyroid gland is working normally, you need to conduct additional ones.

Thyroid hormones: T3 and T4

These are the main hormones that the thyroid gland produces - a small organ in the form of a moth, located just above the Adam's apple. T3 stands for triiodothyronine, and T4 stands for thyroxine.

These hormones are important substances for the regulation of metabolism. They help the tissues and cells to be saturated with energy. That is, thanks to the hormones of the thyroid gland, we get energy.

If the level of T3 and T4 is too small, a person feels broken, he may have a breakdown, weakness. This disease is called hypothyroidism.

If the T3 and T4 levels are too high, all processes in the body are activated. You can feel increased excitability, sleep disorders, even muscle pain. Naturally, weight jumps can also arise: the person then recovers, then grows thin. This disease is called hyperthyroidism.

But you need to keep an eye out: the symptoms of diseases that arise due to a lack or an overabundance of hormones, doctors can not generally associate with the functioning of the thyroid gland. Therefore, a thorough diagnosis, including hormonal tests, should be carried out.

The interaction of T3 and T4

The interaction of T3 and T4

These hormones should be in a certain ratio, only then the person feels normal. To the hormone T3 could be converted into a hormone T4, the thyroid gland secretes a special enzyme - TPO. And if this does not happen, then the body has obvious disorders.

Another hormone that secretes the thyroid gland is calcitotin. This hormone helps calcium to be processed and digested.

Thus, there is an opportunity to prevent a dangerous disease of bone tissue - osteoporosis. However, calcitotin does not play any role in increasing excess weight.

Hormones and the brain

How the thyroid works is directly related to the commands that the brain gives to it. In the brain there is a site - the hypothalamus, which synthesizes the hormone GST, which activates thyrotropin.

When a hormone test is performed for a woman, you can determine the level of hormones T3 and T4, which are concentrated in the blood. The excess or deficiency of these hormones signals to the brain about how correctly and productively the thyroid gland functions.

On this depends on whether the brain (or rather, its parts hypothalamus and pituitary gland) to develop hormones of the thyroid gland.

The hormone MGH is produced more with a deficiency of T3 and T4. Hormone GDS - with their excess. Conversely, at a low level of MDC (less than 0.4 units per ml), the doctor can conclude that the thyroid gland is too active.

Symptoms of hypothyroidism (reduced thyroid hormone levels)

  • Extra kilograms, which are very difficult to remove
  • Weakness, lethargy, energy leakage
  • Signs of depression: long - bad mood, negative thoughts
  • Infertility
  • Violation of the menstrual cycle
  • Inability to endure a child
  • Body temperature is below 36 (the cause may also be a shortage in the body of testosterone and estradiol)
  • Symptoms of prematurely approaching menopause: hot flashes and colds, mood swings
  • Hair loss
  • Uneven intestinal function, constipation
  • Hoarseness of voice
  • Cardiopalmus
  • Low blood pressure
  • Cold allergy
  • Pain in muscles and joints
  • Delayed reactions
  • Sensation of "needles" in the palm and wrist area
  • Deterioration of mindfulness and memory, inability to concentrate even in exceptional cases
  • Inability to sleep, intermittent sleep
  • Allergy to food, dust, odors

What can test for hormones?

If the thyroid gland is not in order, the doctor can discover the following:

  • HGHR is above normal
  • A large number of antibodies produced by the thyroid gland
  • Cholesterol is above normal
  • Hepatic enzymes above normal

Attention: these symptoms can easily be confused with other diseases. Therefore, if you have any doubts about the tests, the doctor should give you additional tests.

Note that similar symptoms can occur with hypothyroidism or hyperthyroidism. And also with autoimmune disorders, because of which the effect of hormones can be abnormal.

Thyroid insufficiency syndrome

Hormones act on cell membranes. This is confirmed by scientific research. There are situations when a woman feels the symptoms of fatigue, weakness and excess weight.

The cause may be the effect of hormones on the cells. But the impact is what doctors call anomalous when it causes such symptoms. And the level of hormones in the body can at this time be absolutely normal.

What is the name of this state of the body? Physicians call it a syndrome of immunity to the thyroid gland. Scientists have not fully studied it and continue to work on research. They believe that this syndrome can hit people who do not even suspect his presence.

Guess what state of the body accompanies this syndrome? That's right, overweight.

Diets cause an imbalance of hormones and provoke excess weight

This conclusion was made by scientists, examining the effect of diets on the hormonal balance and weight fluctuations. In particular, the hormone T3, which produces the thyroid gland, accelerates metabolism and activates the cell work more than the hormone T4.

If his balance is disturbed, it provokes obesity. Therefore, it is very important to maintain a sufficient level of hormone T3 in the body. Thanks to him, the cells produce energy that gives us vitality.

The hormone T3 can be in two forms: connected, passive (then the organism takes it from the stores in the blood) and free (in an active, active form). What hormones T3 use - bound or free - this body regulates itself.

If the free hormone T3 is too small - the body takes its connected form, and if the bound form of T3 is not enough - many functions of organs and systems are violated.

Excess of the hormone T3 in free form is also bad. Then there is a so-called "thyroid storm" or a storm of the thyroid gland, when T3 stimulates the thyroid gland too much.

It, in turn, affects the cells, which also become very active, and the entire body becomes like a broken clockwork mechanism, in which the arrows rotate at a frenzied speed, as they please.

From excessive exposure to the hormone T3 cells can even be destroyed. This means that a person's heart, lungs, nervous system and other organs and systems can be damaged.

The worst thing for the hyperactivity of the hormone T3 is the heart. Fibers of the heart muscle can collapse, which provokes heart disease.

Therefore, in the body with an excess of hormone T3, a protection regulating the level of hormones and their effect on the organs is included.


Protection from the hormone T3

Do not be surprised, there is such a natural protection. Its principle is that with an excess of hormone T3, its active form turns into a bound, inactive.

How does this happen? In our brain and in other parts of the body there are sensors that are capable of catching signals about problems in the body, malfunctions in any system. For example, in the food system.

Then, through the metabolism in the body, energy reserves are regulated. For example, with insufficient supply of energy from cells, the metabolism slows down so that the person will have strength. And when the cells are hyper-worked, the metabolism is accelerated, then we get even more energy.

When the metabolism slows down, a person can recover. When it accelerates - lose weight. And this is not looking at a strict diet or overeating.

What risk women with malnutrition?

Let's talk about what happens when a person goes on a hard diet or is undernourished for some other reason. The body produces much less hormone T3. And the one that is being developed, for the most part remains in a bound (passive) form.

The body catches it with the help of sensors and to save energy, which is now lacking cells, slows down the metabolism. So he can stay on a meager diet for a while.

And there is a paradox: you have to lose weight, because you eat less and your fat tissue should decrease in volume. But you, on the contrary, get better!

The body begins to perceive the state of starvation as threatening and accumulates fatty tissue "in reserve." In this case, calories are burned very slowly, and you do not lose weight, but gain.

Soy as a rescue from excess weight?

Now in excess are sold soy products. They are advertised as useful and reducing weight. What substances are actually contained in soy and is it useful?

Scientists called these substances isoflavones. They have the property of transforming the thyroid hormone T4 into a hormone T3.

Isoflavone consists of genistein and daidzein - substances that have the property of inhibiting the processing of iodine in the thyroid gland. And this means that in the human body there is a lack of iodine with an excess of soy in the diet.

Scientifically proven that a lot of soy in the menu can provoke goiter diseases or weak thyroid function. In particular, to suspend or slow down the production of thyroid hormones, triggering a disease of hypothyroidism.

In Japan, for example, soy products cause these diseases more often than others in the world, because Japanese eat a lot of soy.

Soy and children's body

American research, conducted back in 1950, proved that the composition of baby food should not include soy products. The enzyme in soy is able to disrupt the thyroid gland in children.

These studies have not become public domain, and therefore soy as a useful product is still being advertised.

Soy products for middle-aged women

Reviews about them are not too flattering. According to statistics, in women after the age of 40, thyroid dysfunctions occur 20 times more frequently than those who are younger. This condition is aggravated by soy products or supplements.

Soy in the diet of women after 40-a may increase the risk of developing thyroid diseases, aggravate the course of menstruation, add problems with excess weight.

The same harmful effect can be exerted by clover and millet (yellowish grains, which are also fed chickens).

Studies in the UK prove that women before the onset of menopause who consumed up to 60 g of soya 1 time per day for a month, very soon started complaining about irregular monthly.

These violations continued even 3 months after the women stopped eating soy products. In particular, drink soy milk.

Therefore, thyroid hormones play an important role in your health and appearance. It is important to know what their balance is, to keep control over the weight and to be able to normalize it in time.

It is important to know!

Leptin is a hormone, controlling the level of which, we can protect ourselves from a set of extra pounds. To do this, you just need to turn to a doctor-enocrinologist for hormonal tests. More about leptin. Read more..

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