Can diet reduce tsh ?

[Danielj1]

Read an article suggesting research had been done to show a diet free of certain inflammation foods like dairy and gluten had led to improved tsh - on the assumption I guess that the thyroid / digestion / liver etc all worked more effectively.

Does anyone believe this and has anyone found very restrictive diets have made a measurable reduction in tsh

I have found my thyroxine has stabilised tsh at a much lower level but never close to the ideal level - so now I am following v stricter diet protocol wondering if I retest blood in the near future it may come down a bit (keeping level of thyroxine the same)

Any experiences from anyone is of interest

I took the diet approach for more general health reasons without in any way thinking of a link to tsh - but it has got me wondering ...

Thanks

[greygoose]

No point in reducing TSH unless the FT4/3 rise at the same time. Despite what doctors think, the TSH is not the problem. The TSH is just a rough guide to thyroid status. Falsely reduce it and it won't be much use even for that. TSH itself doesn't cause symptoms, all it does is stimulate the thyroid to make more hormone, when the pituitary decides it's too low; and stimulate conversion of T4 to T3. It doesn't affect hearts or bones, and it isn't even a thyroid hormone. And, doctors are very, very wrong to use it for dosing.

[SlowDragon Administrator]

Most important results are always Ft3 followed by Ft4 and optimal vitamin levels

TSH is frequently low or suppressed when adequately treated

[Star13]

“foods like dairy and gluten had led to improved tsh” - it depends on what you mean by “improved”?I’ve been GF, soy and diary free for around 10 years. I’ve tried many diets but recently done the Michael Mosely 800 Diet with my other half and we both lost over a stone. I’ve been on Levo only, NDT, now combination therapy so Levo and T3 and my TSH hasn’t budged one bit in about 30 years!

Therefore forgive me if I’m sceptical that a diet will do anything to move TSH one way or another. In fact for people like me nothing will effect it and thank God the medics are finally accepting that and not using it to dose me!

A sensible diet on the other hand won’t do you any harm if you need to budge a few pounds….. 😉

[Danielj1 in reply to Star13]

That’s fine - would you say the same about caffeine and alcohol

[Star13 in reply to Danielj1]

In relation to moving TSH? Yes as far as I’m concerned I’ve not seen any research that suggests either does. Personally I can’t touch caffeine as allergic to it and I’m only a very casual wine drinker - nice cold rose now and then!😜

[Buddy195 Administrator]

One thing I’ve learned about restricting food groups is that it’s best to eliminate them one at a time to see if they have any physical or mental benefit to you. I got myself in a terrible muddle eliminating too many things at once, such as gluten, dairy, sugar, nightshades etc.

I recommend eliminating one food group for 3 months and see how you feel before trialling another. Long term, I’ve never eaten gluten again but did. reintroduce all other foods I’d eliminated.

[arTistapple]

Functional doctors are big on diet. Again as everyone is different there are differing results. I imagine if you are gluten intolerant it could make a big difference for example to your well being. Not convinced yet that this applies to everyone. In fact this regime can be the straw that breaks the camel’s back. Soy is bad for me. I had a macrobiotic phase a number of years ago and was ill all the time. Only recently understood it was soy. So much for that ‘healthy’ diet. Anyway as greygoose has pointed out TSH is so useless, fiddling about to make that better is a waste of time. Just eat what you genuinely feel is good for you and don’t give yourself a hard time over what you think does not sit well with you.

[Danielj1]

Thank you all for some helpful comments - my sense is that weight loss is near impossible without some dietary restrictions over the foods that typically cause inflammation- but I take all the other points about tsh

I will check my tsh again over the next few weeks as not done so for about a year now - and will see if there has been any change