Hamburger thyrotoxicosis

[gabby57]

Just a quick heads-up if you've got CBS Reality - this Monday at 8:00pm they've scheduled a program about an outbreak of high levels of thyroid hormones, but excluding a vegetarian in the family. It's an old episode but might be of interest perhaps?

[Clutter]

Gabby57,

Hamburger Thyrotoxicosis

An ‘epidemic’ of exogenous thyrotoxicosis that occurred in the US in 1984-85 caused by the inclusion of bovine thyroid gland in ground beef preparations, which disappeared when the practice was discontinued

medical-dictionary.thefreed...

google.co.uk/search?q=Hambu...

[LAHs in reply to Clutter]

Geez, whoever would have thought of that? It also explains to me why one of the items on a cat's first blood test includes thyroid tests, I have often wondered why vets were so enthusiastic about that. (That's mentioned in one of the Google refs). Animal thyroids in pet food, wow, just something else to watch out for.

[Clutter in reply to LAHs]

LAHs,

I hope thyroid isn't put in pet food. Cats are prone to developing hyperthyroidism without animal thyroid being included in pet food.

[helvella Administrator in reply to Clutter]

Not a cat...

Abstract

Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association

June 15, 2017, Vol. 250, No. 12, Pages 1427-1431

doi.org/10.2460/javma.250.1...

Thyrotoxicosis induced by excessive 3,5,3′-triiodothyronine in a dog

Wendy A. Morré DVM; David L. Panciera DVM, MS; Gregory B. Daniel DVM, MS; Kent R. Refsal DVM, PHD; Markus Rick DVM, PHD; Kathy Arrington DVM

Department of Small Animal Clinical Sciences, Virginia-Maryland College of Veterinary Medicine, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA 24061. (Morré, Panciera, Daniel); Department of Pathobiology and Diagnostic Investigation, College of Veterinary Medicine, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI 48824. (Refsal, Rick); Dogs and Cats Veterinary Referral and Emergency, 6700 Laurel-Bowie Rd, Bowie, MD 20715. (Arrington)

CASE DESCRIPTION A 7-year-old castrated male Havanese was evaluated at a veterinary teaching hospital because of a 12-week history of hyperactivity, aggression, and progressive weight loss despite a healthy appetite.

CLINICAL FINDINGS Tachycardia was the only remarkable finding during physical examination. Serum 3,5,3′-triiodothyronine (T3) and free T3 concentrations were markedly increased, and thyroxine (T4), free T4, and thyroid-stimulating hormone concentrations were at or decreased from the respective reference ranges. Thyroid scintigraphy revealed suppressed uptake of sodium pertechnetate Tc 99m by the thyroid gland but no ectopic thyroid tissue, which was indicative of thyrotoxicosis induced by an exogenous source of T3.

TREATMENT AND OUTCOME The dog was hospitalized for 24 hours, and its diet was changed, after which the clinical signs rapidly resolved and serum T3 and free T3 concentrations returned to within the respective reference ranges. This raised suspicion of an exogenous source of T3 in the dog's home environment. Analysis of the commercial beef-based canned food the dog was being fed revealed a high concentration of T3 (1.39 μg/g) and an iodine (82.44 μg/g) concentration that exceeded industry recommendations. No other source of T3 was identified in the dog's environment.

CLINICAL RELEVANCE To our knowledge, this is the first report of clinical thyrotoxicosis in a dog induced by exogenous T3, although the source of exogenous T3 was not identified. This case highlights the importance of measuring serum T3 and thyroid-stimulating hormone concentrations in addition to T4 and free T4 concentrations when there is incongruity between clinical findings and thyroid function test results.

avmajournals.avma.org/doi/a...

[helvella Administrator in reply to helvella]

Just realised I had not emphasised, shouted, danced, and otherwise suitably lauded the abstract for this single statement:

This case highlights the importance of measuring serum T3 and thyroid-stimulating hormone concentrations in addition to T4 and free T4 concentrations when there is incongruity between clinical findings and thyroid function test results.

Of course it does! I'd only disagree insofar as the incongruity will not always be obvious, so T3 testing is always to be desired. Whether you start with FT4 or TSH or both.

[helvella Administrator in reply to Clutter]

Also this old post of mine:

Beware the Salchichon!

healthunlocked.com/thyroidu...

[milupa]

Hi gabby57 -

I have heard five different versions of this recently, each one from a vet who wanted to convince me that raw feeding my dog was dangerous. Immediately followed by an offer to buy tinned dog food directly from them...

I then asked a butcher who specializes in raw dog food. He claimed that the thyroid gland was way too valuable to leave in these days and that it (and other glands) get sold to the pharma industry.

[SilverAvocado in reply to milupa]

Interesting. I have just started wondering where the animal thyroids used in NDT come from.

[milupa in reply to SilverAvocado]

Hi again, SilverAvocado!

over time I tried several gland extracts to support hypothalamus, pituitary and pancreas (without apparent success). They were from grassfed, mad cow free, animals in New Zealand.

I stopped researching NDT when I switched to T3 but I could not find any sourced from organically reared pigs.

I assume (!) the glands come from industrially reared animals; the question is if that matters in the relatively tiny amounts we take in?

[helvella Administrator in reply to milupa]

So far as I know, all north American desiccated thyroid comes from ordinary food chain pigs.

There have been mutterings that RLC (makes of Nature-Throid and WP Thyroid) want to make organic-sourced products but I suspect that there are insufficient.