If you suffer from hypothyroidism, it’s crucial to manage the underlying systems as they can affect your gut health. Your thyroid and gastrointestinal tract have a close connection, and each impacts the other. The health of your pancreas, stomach, gut microbiome, liver, gallbladder, and large intestine are all interconnected with thyroid function.
Hashimoto’s, an autoimmune condition, is the primary cause of hypothyroidism. It attacks and damages thyroid tissue, leading to inflammation, receptor site resistance, and low thyroid function.
6 Ways Hypothyroidism Affects Your Gut Health
1. Constipation – Intestine motility
The process of intestinal motility is the contraction and relaxation of smooth muscle layers in the digestive tract. This essential process is crucial for maintaining gut health. Proper functioning of intestinal motility is reliant on thyroid hormones. Individuals with unmanaged hypothyroidism often encounter chronic constipation, and may need magnesium supplements, laxatives, or enemas to establish regular bowel movements.
The gastrointestinal tract muscles contract in sequence to move food through the system, which is known as transit time. If there is low thyroid function, this process can slow down significantly. This can lead to an increase in the fermentation of food in the large intestine, which disrupts the balance of bacteria in your gut, regardless of how healthy your diet may be.
2. Gallbladder function
The gallbladder stores bile which is released when consuming fatty foods. This helps with the digestion of fats. If you have low thyroid function, the contraction of the gallbladder can be reduced. This causes the bile to thicken and form sludge, which can lead to the formation of gallstones.
Signs of poor gallbladder function may include difficulty consuming fatty meals or taking supplements like fish oil. Bloating, indigestion, and nausea may also occur, particularly after eating fatty foods.
3. Leaky gut
The gut is responsible for letting in the nutrients and substances that the body needs while keeping out unwanted things. Tight junctions, a type of protein, maintain the integrity of the gut wall. However, inflammation in the gut can cause these junctions to break down, leading to “leaky gut” or gastrointestinal permeability.
This condition allows by-products from bacteria to enter the bloodstream, causing systemic inflammation and potentially binding to immune cells, which can cause further inflammation in the thyroid gland.
4. Blood flow to the gut
Maintaining healthy circulation is crucial in providing nutrients, hormones, and growth factors to the gastrointestinal tract. This helps in keeping the gut functioning properly and enabling tissue regeneration. It is essential that regeneration of gut tissue exceeds the degeneration caused by inflammation.
Blood flow plays a critical role in regeneration and reduction of inflammation. Poor thyroid activity can negatively affect blood flow, which in turn can impact gut health.
5. Gut metabolic activity
Thyroid hormones are important for gut metabolic activity, as they are involved in regulating digestion, absorption, and cell metabolism. A low functioning thyroid can impair this activity, leading to malabsorption and other issues.
6. Gut microbiome
Research indicates that the gut microbiomes of individuals with Hashimoto’s disease differ significantly from those without the condition. Unfortunately, this creates a harmful cycle whereby an unhealthy gut microbiome can trigger autoimmune diseases, and the deficiency of thyroid hormones can worsen gut function and contribute to an unhealthy microbiome. Furthermore, poor gut microbiome health can lead to a loss of oral tolerance, causing the development of multiple food sensitivities and autoimmune conditions.
Additionally, healthy gut bacteria convert the inactive T4 thyroid hormone to the active T3 form. Your thyroid gland produces hormones 94 percent T4, which must be converted to the T3 throughout the body. More microbiome diversity and health make it difficult to produce sufficient T3 to fuel the body’s cells.
To improve your gut microbiome, it’s important to eat a diverse range of vegetables and include plenty of fibre in your diet.
How to improve the connection between your gut and thyroid gland
1) Make sure you’re not in a low thyroid state by checking your TSH levels. A healthy range would be between 1-2 but it depends on your T4 marker. It’s important to test T3 also as this is the active thyroid hormone.
2) Screen for Hashimoto’s by testing your TGB and TPO antibodies, since it’s important to manage the condition if you have it in order to maintain gut health. You should also take the time to evaluate diet, lifestyle, and environmental factors, all of which contain potential autoimmune triggers.
3) A whole-body approach is necessary to break the cycle. Taking supplements alone won’t suffice; you must address underlying autoimmunity and triggers.
Selenium and iodine are essential for thyroid health – iodine supports hormone production, while selenium helps activate thyroid hormones and protect the gland from oxidative stress. PCH Meta-Boost is the go-to for thyroid support, combining these key nutrients to aid hormone production, conversion and overall metabolic balance in one formula.
We offer a GI Map Stool Test Package for gut health and an at-home comprehensive Thyroid Package for new clients which specifically are designed for individuals struggling with thyroid and gut health issues.
