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Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis: A Plug for Selenium
Many of my patients are war-torn from the battle of Hashimoto’s thyroiditis. One day they feel stable, the next day they crash.
As a data-driven physician-scientist, I love finding robust proof that something can make a difference, particularly among the clients I have with Hashi’s.
Here it is: a new meta-analysis of all the data on SELENIUM and how it helps in Hashi’s. If you’re not on the stuff, get thee to the local health food store.
Here’s the scoop.
Overall, there have been four randomized trials of selenium supplementation in Hashimoto’s thyroiditis, of at least 3 months duration. You know from my previous posts that I am insanely joyful for randomized trials, where a group of patients is randomly assigned to a treatment or a placebo, because this is the type of research with the least bias. And that’s a very good thing.
After 3 months, here is what they found when you group the four studies together: significantly lower thyroid peroxidase antibodies and higher rate of well-being and/or mood compared to controls. Amount of thyroid treatment and ultrasound of the thyroid were unchanged or not thoroughly reported.
Bottom line: Selenium supplementation is a good idea in Hashimoto’s thyroiditis.
-Written by Dr. Gottfried
Gottfried Wellness Center, Dr. Gottfried’s Facebook page for news and updates.
Tags: hashimoto's thyroiditis patients check out selenium, selenium lowered thyroid peroxidase antibodies, selenium plug for hashimoto's thyroiditis, selenium supplementation
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10 Responses to “Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis: A Plug for Selenium”
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dr G, what is recommended dosage for hashi patients ?
can I get enough by eating brazil nuts
Thanks, L
So, is there different types of Selenium that are better? People always say which “type” of vitamin works better, so I wondered if there were different “types” of selenium. AND, how much should we really be taking?
Just questions that always pop in my head, as I rewrite my daily requirements and figure out when to schedule them in my day as to not affect my thyroid medication, or take something too late in the day, or make sure you take vitamin X with vitamin Z for better absorption.
I swear, by the time we get to feeling great we should open our own thyroid health store, and we could have weekly lesson plans! Ahh, the life of a Hashi’s. . . why not? They have entire lifestyle changes devoted to diabetes, why can’t they just make it easier for us thyroid patients? Well, I guess that is what we are doing, one little step at at time!
Thank you DearThyroid!
Yeah Us!! It is great to have people like Dr. Gottfried to look out for us 🙂 THANK YOU DR. GOTTFRIED!!!
Wishing you the best,
Heather
Hello from vacation in Portland! The dose of selenium in the studies was 200 micrograms for 3 to 12 months, either as sodium selenite (200micrograms) or selenomethionine (200micrograms). They didn’t provide brands. Heather – I agree with you. Let’s make a protocol for Hashimoto’s so we don’t have to keep reinventing the wheel! All the best, Dr. Sara
Hi,
Please see the link below for some info on selenium. Thanks.
Dietary Supplement Fact Sheet: Selenium
http://ods.od.nih.gov/factsheets/selenium/#h7
Hi,
I’m new here, this site is a great idea!
I was diagnosed with Hashimoto’s a few years ago and only this January found out that there were all these clinical trials on the influence of Selenium on the TPA levels. It seems that selenomethionine is somewhat better than sodium selenite because the latter one cannot be used by the body properly if it is taken in combination with vitamin C (or foods containing it). I started taking selenomethionine, 200 micrograms/day. In August I will know whether my TPA levels went down at all, I hope I’ll have some good news to share then.
BTW, ordered my pills from this site: http://www.supersmart.com
Greetings from Germany!
Marjana
ug dl is the same thing as mcg…so according to the NIH, a tolerable upper intake level is 400 ug/dl or mcg per day…which is twice what the recommendation here is. 200 mcg a day according to the NIH for someone over 19 years old, is perfectly within safe limits.
However the safe limits for women pregnant or breastfeeding are much lower, so one should consult a qualified physician.
Oh, well… After almost 6 months of 200 mcg of selenomethionine a day, my TPO antibodies are still stubbornly >1300. I guess it is not a magic wand after all. I really had my hopes high and wanted it to work… 🙁
my clothes were washed by my mom with SULFUR soap and after a month of wearing them and tolerating the smell, i developed symptoms and visiting a doctor hashi’s was diagnosed. since then i am suffering from very harsh symptoms like i am always tired and my hands and feet are tingling. for a possible way of skipping from these fatal symptoms i have just turned to consume SELENIUM supplements for a hope to conceal my symptoms. by the way, i am 28 and i have life time to suffer from SULFUR derived autoimmune hashi. hamed
i will report its effect after 3 months
I accidentally began taking selenium for some other reason and only later did I learn of its role in thyroid function. This all occurred within months of my TPA’s (anti a/b?) first becoming elevated to around <200. It's possible that after a certain point, time with tpa's and level of tpa's, taking selenium will not reverse the Hashi disease process.
Endo doctors in US, in my experience, know nothing about the role of selenium or of any other way to reverse the Hashi disease. Europe has published peer reviewed medical journals about selenium's affects on the thyroid but zip, nada, nothing coming from US medical journals.