I suspect gluten sensitivity could play a role in many thyroid cases.  Celiac disease associates with autoimmune thyroid problems.  About 12% of Americans are verifiably gluten sensitive.  The number may actually be much higher if you include people who have a less pronounced immune reaction to gluten.  What do you think of this idea?

That is very concerning. What are the typical symptoms of a low thyroid. I must get it checked.

Dr.Davis,
   This post has convinced me that
your eventual protocol will be THE
standard MO in just a few short
years.Many thanks for your blog.

Now the question is, how to get a doctor to treat you for low thyroid function?  I went from doctor to doctor for a number of years complaining of most of the clinical symptoms of low thyroid.  Since my labs were "within the normal range", not one of them would prescribe any form of thyroid.

Finally, in desperation, I went to a "wellness" doctor who did put me on a trial of Armour thyroid.  MAGIC!  I suddenly had some energy, the gray clouds lifted, and I was finally able to begin to lose some weight... which eventually led to a 50 pound weight loss, which had been impossible before treatment.

Unfortunately, by then I had achieved a heart scan score which put me in the high 90th percentile for a 55 year old woman.  Thanks docs!!!

The average doctor out there seeing patients is still treating based solely on lab numbers, NOT on the (obvious) clinical symptoms sitting in front of them.  Such a patient is far more likely to be given a script for an antidepressant... I had plenty of doctors who were MORE than willing to write scripts for those!

I hope the TYP treatment protocol will eventually begin to make a dent in this situation.  I now know that years of untreated low thyroid certainly contributed to my high heart scan score.

Thank you, Dr. Davis, for Track Your Plaque!

Dr:

I have recently been reading your blog lately, and referring lots of readers from my own blog.

I'd be interested to get your "take" on this -- not diagnosis.

'Bout 18 months ago, I was at 230 (5'10) and looked awful. I was on Omeprezol for years for gastric reflux, a variety of prescription meds since early 20s for seasonal sinus allergies, culminating finally in the daily, year round squirts of Flonaise-esque sprays (the best for control without noticeable side-effects), and finally, Levothroid for about the last 7 years or so, as I had elevated TSH (around 9ish).

My BP was regularly 145-160 / 95-110.

I decided to get busy. I modified diet somewhat, cutting lots of junk carbs, and began working out -- brief, intense, heavy twice per week. BP began coming down immediately, such that within only a couple of weeks I was borderline rather than full blown high. Then after about six months, a year ago, I went to full blown low-carb, high fat, cutting out all grains, sugar, veg oils, etc, and replacing with animal fats, coconut, olive oil. You know the drill. Then, first of the year I felt great and simply stopped all meds, including the thyroid. I also began intermittent fasting, twice per week, and for a twist, I always do my weight lifting in some degree of fast, even as much as 30 hours.

That's when the weight really started pouring off. Take a look:

http://www.freetheanimal.com/root/2008/09/periodic-photo-progress-update.html

http://www.freetheanimal.com/root/2008/08/faceoff.html

In July I figured it's about time for a physical. Here's the lipid panel, demonstrating am HDL of 106 and Try of 47, great ratios all around:

http://www.freetheanimal.com/root/2008/07/lipid-pannel.html

However, my TSH was even higher -- 16ish. It seems odd that I was able to lose 40-50 pounds of fat (10-15 pounds of lean gain for a 30 pound net loss at that time -- now an additional 10 pounds net loss).

One disclosure is that I was drinking too much, almost daily, and quite a bit (gotta save some vices...). Anyway, I'm at the point now where I want to drill down. I know I need to see an endocrinologist and have T3 and T4 looked at, but in advance, I wanted to see if the recent changes I've made could make a difference:

1. Stopped all alcohol.
2. Stopped most dairy, except ghee and heavy cream, and cheese is now used as a "spice," i.e., tiny quantities -- no more milk.
3. 6,000 IU Vit D per day.
4. 3 grams salmon oil, 2 grams cod liver oil.
5. Vit K2 Menatetrenone (MK-4) -- side story: getting off grains reversed gum disease for which I have had two surgeries, then supplementing the K2 DISSOLVED calculus on my teeth within days -- hygienist and dentist are dumbfounded. Stephan (Whole Health Source), who comments here, has an amazing series on K2.

Well, that's about it. I'd be interested in your general take on this.

Stephan--

I suspect that there is indeed a connection.

I personally feel that wheat, for a variety of reasons, has NO place in the diet whatsoever.

I agree with anonymous. It is incredibly difficult to find a doctor who'll will diagnose and treat hypothyroid, whether mild or not. There are many people whose FT3 and FT4 levels are low (whether the lab considers them in range or not) yet their TSH is "normal" either because their pituitary gland has not responded to the situation yet or because the lab range for normal is outdated.

Many labs still use a TSH range of 0.3 - 5.0, when the American Association of Endocrinologists has recommended 3.5 be the upper limit, with many individual thyroid specialists pointing out that the healthy population's TSH readings have a mode of about 1.0 and a TSH of 2.0, or even 1.5 in older people, can be considered suspect when there are symptoms. And of course if someone has hypopituitarism the TSH range has no meaning at all.

So we have an unknown number of people in various stages of dysfunction because many doctors aren't knowledgeable about what the TSH reading means. Not to mention issues like T3 resistance. They are often misdiagnosed as having chronic fatigue, fibromyalgia, depression, and so on, or just told to go lose weight. I know personally of one lady who went to her doctor - she is overweight, 46, had the symptoms of early hypothyroid, and tested for high cholesterol and elevated blood sugar. The doctor told her she had diabetes and wanted her to begin metformin. Luckily, she went for a second opinion and low thyroid levels were found. She's feeling much better now with T4/T3 combo therapy.

There are also a lot of hypothyroid cases that aren't receiving adequate treatment. Some people receive relief with synthetic T4 replacement, some need a combination of T3 and T4, and others seem to need dessicated thyroid (eg Armour). Go to any thyroid support group and you will find people desperate for relief, their doctors are telling them their Synthroid is adequate, they must just be depressed or not eating well. Often the person will need to be treated for adrenal or pituitary function as well - as you have stated the hormones are all linked.

If anyone believes they are having thyroid problems, do your best to shop around for a doctor who believes in testing Free T3 and Free T4 thyroid hormones and treating based on symptoms not strict lab results. Doctors who are both traditional practitioners as well as having an interest in "holistic" or "alternative" medicine may be the best place to look. But be wary of alternative health practitioners who claim they can cure hypothyroid with diet or homeopathic remedies, etc. A certain diet free of goitrogens will certainly help support your recovery but treating your hormones is necessary.

R Nikoley,

Thank you so much for your efforts in promoting TYP at your informative health site! I've been keeping up with your blog posts and love your approach to optimal health and exercise regimens. Congrats with the incredible body recomposition shifts.  

Your experience with butter oil and vitamins ADEK2 are esp informative for me.

Your TG + HDLs ROCK!

I'm stopping/limiting alcohol as well -- I think the health benefits can be immense.

I have some questions for you:
--Have you considered getting a heartscan eval?
--Have you considered all the causes of Hashimoto's/HLA DR5 allele association? (it's an autoimmune disease just as HDL B27 is assoc with alkylosing spondylitis in many men; my sister had Grave's which is HDL DR 3 associated)
--Have you had the vitamin D level evaluted? goal 25(OH)D 60-80 ng/ml
--Have you had iodine testing? Deficiency leads to Hypothyroidism
--Have you considered the role of casein as a food allergen (subsequently triggering the immune system to continue to attack the thyroid gland -- effectively killing it off like Oklahoma bombings)? Cream has casein -- though minute enough to trigger autoimmunity reactions.
--Have you considered resumption of Levothroid or Armour Thyroid to control TSH to goal 1.0 to prevent further inflammatory responses?
--Other factors related to Hashimoto triggers are: stress, high cortisol, adrenal depletion, zinc deficiency, iodine deficiency, B-vitamin deficiencies,  vit ADEK deficiencies, food allergies (wheat barley rye corn/maize egg whites casein), heavy metal accumulation (mercury, lead, etc).

Hope that helps! I find it spectacular you cured your own gum disease.

-G

R Nikoley,

Thank you so much for your efforts in promoting TYP at your informative health site! I've been keeping up with your blog posts and love your approach to optimal health and exercise regimens. Congrats with the incredible body recomposition shifts.  

Your experience with butter oil and vitamins ADEK2 are esp informative for me.

Your TG + HDLs ROCK!

I'm stopping/limiting alcohol as well -- I think the health benefits can be immense.

I have some questions for you:
--Have you considered getting a heartscan eval?
--Have you considered all the causes of Hashimoto's/HLA DR5 allele association? (it's an autoimmune disease just as HDL B27 is assoc with alkylosing spondylitis in many men; my sister had Grave's which is HDL DR 3 associated)
--Have you had the vitamin D level evaluted? goal 25(OH)D 60-80 ng/ml
--Have you had iodine testing? Deficiency leads to Hypothyroidism
--Have you considered the role of casein as a food allergen (subsequently triggering the immune system to continue to attack the thyroid gland -- effectively killing it off like Oklahoma bombings)? Cream has casein -- though minute enough to trigger autoimmunity reactions.
--Have you considered resumption of Levothroid or Armour Thyroid to control TSH to goal 1.0 to prevent further inflammatory responses?
--Other factors related to Hashimoto triggers are: stress, high cortisol, adrenal depletion, zinc deficiency, iodine deficiency, B-vitamin deficiencies,  vit ADEK deficiencies, food allergies (wheat barley rye corn/maize egg whites casein), heavy metal accumulation (mercury, lead, etc).

Hope that helps! I find it spectacular you cured your own gum disease.

-G

Dr.Davis no where on your site do I see the importance of Vitamin C mentioned.Are you aware of the work of Linus Pauling concerning Vit C and the amino acid Lysine on calcification?
Paulibng summarised that subliminal Scurvy was to blame and the RDA for Vitamin C is far too low.
Ps. He did win a Nobel Prize for his research.
Many thanks for a very interesting and informative site.

http://www.vitamincfoundation.org/vitcheart.htm

Two things;

1. Dr. Davis, can you provide any evidence that supplementing D3 will decrease arterial calcification? From what I've read, increased D3 (especially absent K1 menaquinone/K2) leads to increased calcification. It seems quite likely that the low levels of 25D3 observed in people with heart disease may be due to overconversion to calcitriol rather than lack of intake.  

2. Anon wrote; "Dr.Davis no where on your site do I see the importance of Vitamin C mentioned."

Ascorbate uses the same transporter as glucose (sodium mediated, IIRC.) Most animals make ascorbate from glucose and if your blood sugar is high, your body won't absorb vitamin C. So while mild scurvy may very well be a component of diabetes, it's questionable how well increasing oral intake will fix that problem, if the nutrient is simply not absorbed.

I've come to believe my MANY health problems are hormone related but it's extremely difficult getting effectively tested and treated. I finally have some symptoms lessened by desiccated thyroid and am trying to sneak bioidentical low-dose estradiol, progesterone, DHEA past my migraine sensors. Hormones seem to be the most basic part of your system--if they could be in proper balance.

Dr. Davis,

Can someone have a good HbA1c but still have an undesirable amount of small particle LDL? ..Like perhaps someone with FHC that has their LDL particles floating around longer in the bloodstream and hence exposed longer to oxidants.

Thank you.

John M.

I love your blog but I have to clarify on this point. Check out the post by chris kresser: http://chriskresser.com/blog/why-hemoglobin-a1c-is-not-a-reliable-marker/

a1c is not reliable for many people because of the variation in RBC life length. healthy people's red blood cells may live as over 4 months whereas diabetic's live only as 60 days. This results in vast discrepancies.

For example my fasting BG averages 77 and postprandial peak is 85-90, but my hemoglobin A1c is 5.7

This doesn't make sense unless you account for differences in RBC lifetime.

I'm wondering what your opinion is of glycation and aging.

I've been reading that a major part of the aging process might be caused by glycation of proteins in the body, mostly caused by elevated blood sugar.

Do you believe that practically, one could expect a longer life expectancy to correlate with lower blood sugar levels?

The other day on the tv show, "The Doctors", they profiled a young woman concerned about her FBG.
She said that Diabetes ran in her family.
They did a bloodtest and announced that her FBG was 111.
The scary part was when they told her that reading was okay.
With that FBG, one can assume that everytime she eats, her post-prandial FBG is heading into dangerous territory.
But they told her not to worry.
She was right about her concern...as Diabetes will continue to run in her family.
Especially with that advice.

I found Walmart carries a Bayer at home A1c test kit that gives results in 5 minutes.  It came with two test cartridges so I was able to take one when I started lowcarb and another one 4 months later to see how much it came down.  (I came down from 8.3 to 5.2 in 4 months)

What is HbA1c for those long-lived okinawans with their rice-based diet, or those long-lived cretans with their wheat-based diet?

Wouldn't a lean healthy body (especially if there is occasional fasting) eventually clean up glycated and otherwise damaged proteins?

Glycation picks on the amino acid valine "wing" on the molecule of haemoglobin's B-chain portion. Aldehydes, both glucose aldehydes and non-glucose ones can become bound to that valine.

This can occur several ways. Glucose oxidation yields a byproduct, called gly-oxal; this is what most people monitor. In the glyco-lytic pathway called Embden-Meyerhof triose-phosphate drives gly-oxal into the molecule methyl-glyoxal (MG).

Type 1 diabetics have circulating methyl-glyoxal (MG) levels that are +/- 6 times greater normal. MG is a glycation end product.

Tyler's comment links to a discussion of fructosamine monitoring. This is from a non-enzyme driven reaction, called Amadori, where fructo-selysine and the fructos-amine 3 kinase cascade generates 3 De-oxy-glucos-ane (3DG); another glycation end product.

Enzymatic glycation occurs in pathological states. Macrophage activity spins off  the enzyme myelo-peroxidase; this generates hypo-chlorite. Hypo-chlorite pulls in the amino acid serine and then together they cause the formation of certain advanced glycation end-products; namely glyco-aldehyde and glycer-aldehyde.

Yet another non-enzyme chain of events can generate advanced glycation end products. This is when the molecule per-oxy-nitrite (ONOO-)gets stalled inside the cell and it induces the formation of gly-oxal/gluco-sone/aldehyde molecules that can contribute to glycation.

ONOO- normally is part of healthy cell signaling. When a metabolic processes is under sustained "stress" it (ONOO-) can't shift the cell function over to what it (the cell) needs to do (in order to adapt and cope). Instead of briefly signalling, signing off and going away ONOO-
lingers in the cell; a situation that may also be related to ageing.

I wonder if Dr. Davis can comment on situations where carb intake is reasonable and the patient has a decent HBA1c, yet still has higher than normal triglycerides and small LDL?

My own HBA1c has been in the 4.5-4.6 range, yet my trigs hover around 140-150, and I still have more small LDL than I'd like.

If restricting carbs doesn't work, D levels normalized, etc. what else could be the cause of higher than optimal triglycerides?

I know people with HBA1cs in the 5.4+ range, eat many more carbs than I do, yet still have lower trig numbers.

Hi Revelo,
Vitis vinifera leaf inhibits advanced glycation end product (AGE) formation. That is what many cultures, like Crete, eat wrapped around their cereal grain; we call it Grape Leaves in English (ex: stuffed grape leaves, a.k.a. Dolma in Greek).

Japan researchers (2009?) took 1 kilogram of dried grape leaves in 20 liters of water and stirred it for 3 hours at 80*Celcius. They administered the decoction in various dosages and found it can reduce the AGE of 3DG (3 de-oxy-gluco-sone) and also a marker of AGE in kidney disease, pentosidine, down to 1/5th the level from that study's AGE control levels.

The same study experimented with Anthemis nobilis using the same extraction technique detailed above. They propose the active ingredient responsible for the AGE inhibition is the compound called chamaemoliside.

Chamomile is the name of this plant in English; I suspect it is drunk as a tea in Crete. In the range of AGE inhibitors that they tested Chamomile was better acting than any other; grape leaves efficacy came in second.

Plants studied that inhibit AGE forming, in no particular order of effectiveness may interest you. These are: Crataegus oxyacantha (English = Hawthorn berry), Houttuynia cordata (English = Chameleon plant) and Astragalus membranaceous (English = Astragalus). Chameleon plant is a regular condiment used in Vietnamese and some south-east asian food; it smells kind of "fishy".

According to Steven Gundry MD, it is MEAT which is the primary cause of AGE's. (He doesn't cite any references for this in his "Diet Evolution" book.) He recommends Atkin's style low-carb/high-protein to lose weight, then low-fat (15% of calories from fat) as the maintenance diet. He is not too keen on grains, tubers or fruit, but rather emphasizes green vegetables.

Thanks for the nice explanations Might-o'chondri-AL

Diabetic nephro-pathy (ie: kidney complication), and kidney disease have elevated AGE. These are monitored as pento-sidine, gly-oxal, methyl-gly-oxal and 3 de-oxy-gluco-sane; which the body tries to excrete as carbonyly compounds.

Carbonyl compounds are hard to get through the kidney filters and cause an increase in uric uremia, which can be toxic. Too many carbonyls can cause, the so called, "carbonyl stress" of diabetic nephro-pathy.

Diabetic patients' kidneys eventually can't excrete enough sodium (Na); and that contributes to the high blood pressure (hyper-tension) diabetics tend to suffer from.

Ketones merit mentioning too. One of the markers for AGE in the kidneys is N-carb-oxy-ethl-lysine; which may (or may not) be a side effect of ketones. Type 1 diabetics do show elevated ketone levels incidently.

I am not able to offer any perspective on ketogenic diets and AGE however. However, vitamin C is known to decrease ketone bodies. (In the previous post, "Battery acid ...", more
diabetic responses to vitamin C appears among the comments.)

I've been eating low-carb (basically paleo) for the last 4-5 mo and just got my lipid panel results.  They sky-rocketed.

Cholesterol 300
  
Triglyceride 150  
    
HDL          33
    
LDL             237


Every number got worse.  The part that really sucks, is that the diet makes me feel great and nearly all my body fat is gone.  I'm 37, 5'11, 180 lbs and probably about 9% body fat.  Now I'm wondering what kind of trade-off I'm making.  Any thoughts, doc?

Testing different foods one hour after meals, it seems like a good rule of thumb for me is that each ounce of carbs raises my blood sugar about 10 mg,and that the kind of carb doesn't matter nearly as much as the quantity.

Paradoxical low carb yet relatively high HbA1c & higher carb but relatively lower HbA1c is reported by Annon. Doc assuredly deals with cases like these and has to resolve their enigma one by one.  

The gene HFE (human hemochromatosis protein, nicknamed High Fe  where iron = Fe)can have a variation (reference code = HFE rs1800562). This variation is seen in +/- 5% of Caucasians, but is not found in East Asian nor African genes.

More hemoglobin is in circulation for those having this HFE genetic variation. In this case, the same amount of blood sugar that can contribute to glycation of hemoglobin has more hemoglobin surfaces to glycate. Think of it as the glycation has to spread itself thin; the dilution of it's effect makes the % of Hb1Ac less (ie: lower Hb1Ac % measured in the blood sample).

On the other hand, genetic variation rs855791 of the gene TMPRSS6 (trans-membrane protease, serine 6)is implicated in anemia. In these individuals Hb1Ac readings range higher; there is less hemoglobin relative to the glycation potential in their blood stream. Think of it as the relatively low proportion of hemoglobin which has to bear all the glycation burden
(ie: Hb1Ac % is higher in their blood sample).

Anemic (hemolytic) tendency is also driven by variation of gene HK1 (hexo-kinase 1). This enzyme modulates how glucose inside the cell goes through  it's processing pathways.

This gene (HK1) codes for the unique iso-form of erythrocytes; erythrocyte configuration can figure in to low hemoglobin. In other words it is also a factor in high Hb1Ac readings; glycation potential in the blood over burdens the limited amount of hemoglobin around.

In response to several questions about the potential disconnect between small LDL/triglycerides and HbA1c: Yes, there are people in which one measure is more resistant. It varies based on the mix of underlying genetic predispositions, so it's hard to generalize.


Might-o'-chondri-AL--

Great discussion. Thanks, as always. You bring an incredibly sophisticated perspective!

Jonathan--

Spectacular! And within an unusually brief timeline for HbA1c.


Revelo--

Might-o'chondri-AL is referring to endogenous glycation. You are citing a discussion about exogenous glycation, two separate phenomena.

Might Jenny's observation and Nigel's study reference be reconciled somewhat ? I'll tag on my disclaimer of being unqualified to judge low carb or specific diets; since I've never struggled with weight or diabetes, and am not a doctor.

The study Nigel linked was done with all Kuwaiti subjects. In that country co-sanguinity in marriage is practised by +/- 54.3 % of Kuwaitis. And 1 in 5 are reported to be diabetic.

The data is very admirable; my suggestion is that the data trend may not exactly transfer to a modern Caucasian population; which is essentially interbred from migration and war (rape). This may be why Jenny sees a +/- 6 month plateau among her respondents and the co-sanguine Kuwaitis saw changes continue for a year +.

Genetic poly-morphisms influence fasting glucose (GCK, G6PC2 and MTNR1B), are implicated in Hb1Ac, triglyceride levels, HDL levels & so on. That said, I personally would try the low carb approach if I was diabetic.

oops posted this in wrong thread

Re: Anonymous with Cholesterol 300,  Triglycerides 150,  HDL 33 ...

Suggest you try a technique many dieabetics find helpful to understand food consumption influence on their blood sugar profile,"eating to your meter".
For a few days, record your blood sugar level immediately before eating a "normal" meal, and then after the meal get 1-hour and 2-hour post-meal blood sugar readings. Separate meals by at least 4 hours. Concentrate on monitoring your main meals and ignore snacking for the first go around. Better however, if you can actually avoid all snaking during period of the testing. Also you will want to add to your journal the foods, ammount consumed, and time it was consumed. If post-meal blood sugar values are high, then to determine a pattern folllowing a meal do a series of hourly post-meal readings until you reach 85 mg/dL or so. As a graph, these results should be helpful to you. Expect that the results will be revealing to you with unexpected high blood sugar values even after following a paleo diet. And if so, it does mean that paleo is not for you, only that you need to more discriminating in what and how much you actually consume.

I would be interested in hearing about your findings. By the way, you did not mention the blood glucose or HbA1c results of your recent lab tests.

My regards and good luck ... spo

BTW: practice good technique with the finger sticks. Do a quick but good hand wash using soap and a warm water rinse prior to a stick. Dry hands well. Dont squeeze hard at the site to encourage blood flow. The original stick should be sufficent to raise a drop of blood for the test strip. Using alcohol swabs and changing out lancets is not necessry when only working on youtself. Keep the test strip vial tightly closed other then when removing the current test strip. If you encounter an "extreme" value, retest for confirmation but clean hands again prior to the retest. My experiences regarding unexpected readings seems to usually invovle hand and finger contamination of some form.

Finally, on Amazon.com I am able to purchase unexpired test strips in 50 strip lots for my old AcuCheK Confort Curve meter for less than $0.16 or so a strip and often with free shipping. You just have to broswe around a bit.

@ Anonymous with 300 TC
I would say it could possibly be your liver cleaning itself out (it could have been getting fatty).  The higher Trig might be a sign you are getting too many carbs from somewhere (at least till your sugar stores empty some and insulin sensitivity goes back up) but it could be the liver cleaning out as well.  I think HyperLipid posted something about this once.