I've been reading a lot of past posts on this forum about thyroid and adrenal glandulars and there seems a lot of confusion about whether they contain hormones or not.
I've contacted the following brands direct to find out. I thought I'd pass this information on to clear up the confusion:
Thyroid Glandulars:
Nutri Thyroid: contains NO thyroid hormones - these have been removed.
Swanson Thyroid: contains NO thyroid hormones - these have been removed.
Procepts Metavive I, II, III, IV: contains ALL thyroid hormones - it is a whole gland product, nothing has been removed.
Adrenal Glandulars:
Nutri Adrenal & Nutri Adrenal Extra: contains NO adrenal hormones - these have been removed.
Swanson Adrenal: contains NO adrenal hormones - these have been removed.
Thorne Adrenal Cortex: contains NO adrenal hormones - these have been removed.
Procepts Adrenavive II, III: contains ALL adrenal cortex hormones - nothing has been removed.
Procepts Adrenavive I: contains ALL adrenal gland hormones - it is a whole gland product, nothing has been removed.
So we see that all glandular products are NOT the same.
Please check beforehand that you are using the correct 'type' of glandular for your needs before consuming.
A friend and I were both given incorrect glandulars from different healthcare practitioners who didn't know the difference between the brands. She has no thyroid gland and was advised to come off her Levo and given Nutri Thyroid instead! I was given Adrenavive I and it stimulated my exhausted adrenals too much and made me energy crash.
Hope this info is helpful for you
Written by
HEA72
To view profiles and participate in discussions please or .
Yep I've read on here a number of posts where healthcare practitioners have mistakingly recommended the wrong type of glandular for their patient's individual needs. One of the many is a well known doctor in the field of thyroid care too - who to be fair has helped lots of patients over the years but at the same time I hope they've now swatted up and revised the way they practice
We still have the issues of actual amounts and consistency from one pill to another, one pot to another, one batch to another and one hormone-containing to another.
Have to say, I'd also like to know how they do the hormone removal and prove it has done that but nothing else.
Nutri tell me that the hormone glands they use "are de-fatted to have the hormone portion removed." I assume that's the process the other brands use to.
Yes I know what you mean when you say about the consistency variations of the glandulars. I assume this would be because each gland used to make the product will have a different biochemical composition and as it's not a prescription product, only classed as a food supplement, these measurements don't lawfully have to declared.
Yes - I've read of the defatting process. Just as sceptical now as when I first heard of it.
Animal thyroids used to produce Thyroid USP, the powder used to make Armour Thyroid, NP Thyroid, Nature-Throid, WP Thyroid and others, goes through a defatting process. You would probably expect that any such animal product would be defatted as fat goes rancid.
The thyroid hormone in a thyroid is largely bound to thyroglobulin - a protein. How does defatting deal with that?
Quite simply: I do not believe that defatting removes all, or even a significant amount, of the thyroid hormone. I am willing to believe if someone can produce decent evidence.
Thyroid USP is produced by blending batches of thyroid powder (probably not at the level of individual thyroids, but of many), and dilution (usually with a sugar) to achieve a consistent potency. One of the reasons for porcine becoming dominant is that bovine and ovine thyroid hormone levels vary considerably through the year - whereas in pigs the levels are much more stable.
Yes, we have no evidence whatsoever of the actual thyroid hormone content, nor the ranges, for most "glandular" products. A little while ago I did see a claim for one of the New Zealand products and was less than impressed at the wide latitude they allowed themselves.
These brands are all available in the UK. I'd recommend seeing your prescribing doctor about switching over, as they'd have to be dove-tailed carefully. But if you're self treating, there's a lot of knowledgeable people here on this forum who may offer some advice on this too, if you create a separate post about this.
I guess they could be seen as another form of nutritional supplement in adjunct to a vitamin/mineral/EFA support package. Because there maybe other nutrients present in the glandulars other than hormones that can help support thyroid or adrenal function. I know some people who have weak thyroids and adrenals and have said they have benefitted from the hormone-free glandulars.
In the past, there have been products described as thyroglobulin - such as Proloid.
I don't know if they had any real advantages over our more common desiccated thyroid products. (You can find people who did very much better on Proloid than any other product they tried - for whatever reason.) But Proloid was well and truly de-fatted!
(For clarity, Proloid has not been available for something like 14 years.)
I would not classify anything as desiccated thyroid unless it clearly identifies the amount of thyroid hormone it contains. Thus, the USA products, Erfa Thryoid, a few Thai products, and maybe one or two others.
I used Adrenavive II & then moved on to Thornes,believing I was tapering down.Now I read that the hormones have been removed in Thornes adrenal coretex!
I thought I had done a lot of online research & the only difference between Adrenavive II & Thornes was the dose amount.
I'm not convinced the truth is always told about these either. I did use one once and felt so much better that I could t believe the active hormones had been removed.
We have had discussions here in which people suggested that some of the glandulars which say that the hormone(s) have been removed actually mean that ONLY the T4 is removed - leaving any T3. I doubt there is a viable technique for doing that so, again, I simply do not believe it.
I understood that the adrenal extract in Avenavive ll & Thorne's adrenal extract are from the cortex only,removing any adrenaline-like substances present in the medulla,but apart from that,I understood they contain active extracts.
The allopathic medical community say these extracts are 100% ineffective(apart from a retired MD well-known to this community!)Many people on this forum would beg to differ from their own personal experience.
You are right to separate adrenal products out for discussion.
I agree that the cortex vs. medulla issue is vitally important but do not know specifically about individual products. Nor do I know how accurately the division can be made.
The time I tried it I was intending to drive around Europe with a friend so basically one week driving to Venice. A week in Venice looking around the place as much as possible then a different way home so covering about 3,000 miles in really two weeks and not much R&R in the week in between. I'd not felt on top of my game through before I set off so started taking probably a few weeks earlier and yes I did feel the benefit and had a wonderful holiday but was certain there must have been thyroid hormones in them. I even took out some of my Levo as this built up! So if no hormones in them where did all the extra energy come from? I can go with psychological for a few days but not for 4-5 weeks!
"I was given Adrenavive I and it stimulated my exhausted adrenals too much and made me energy crash."
OH no! I've just ordered this! I assumed it was the weaker one as it was the cheapest! Maybe if I take it a couple of times a week I won't overload myself to start with? Was the "crash" after one tablet or over a period of time?
Hi Portia1974. The capsule doses are high for Adrenavive, so perhaps open them up and divide them down into much smaller doses and work up to a tolerable level? Go careful, trying a very small dose first, wait 24 hours between doses, trial a dose for few days, then move the dose up a little? I reacted after my first dose. Up all night unable to sleep, palpitations, anxiety, panic attack feelings, then crashed the following day
Or just sell the sealed pot on Ebay!!! I've done that in the past and instead opted for another brand.
From my experience not all companies admit to glandulars containing hormones but they most definitely have them in. Thorne cortex definitely does and so does Nutri Adrenal and NAX, I know this from experience. Be careful presuming that they don’t. Thorne is the weakest hormone wise.
Content on HealthUnlocked does not replace the relationship between you and doctors or other healthcare professionals nor the advice you receive from them.
Never delay seeking advice or dialling emergency services because of something that you have read on HealthUnlocked.
Glandular meds for cortisol anybody?
Strange results when adding NDT to Thyroid glandular
T3 levels and thyroid hormone signaling
Cellular hypothyroidism v glandular hypothyroidism. A Paper.
How to increase T3 level with no hormones on Hashimoto disease?
