More good news regarding vitamin D supplementation and thyroid autoimmunity. Another study has shown supplementation can improve thyroid autoimmunity, this time in women with already normal vitamin D levels. Let’s discuss.

If you need help with thyroid autoimmunity, click here.

Links:

1. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28073128
2. https://drruscio.com/vitamin-d-treats-thyroid-autoimmunity-landmark-study/

Vitamin D Improves Thyroid Autoimmunity

Dr. Michael Ruscio: Vitamin D helps decrease thyroid autoimmunity—more good news!

Hi, this is Dr. Ruscio. And you may have remembered several months ago we discussed a landmark study.

To my knowledge, it was the first of its kind that showed that supplementation with vitamin D could lower thyroid autoimmunity, which was very exciting because we’ve seen a lot of correlation data showing that people with certain autoimmune conditions also have low vitamin D, but not nearly as much data showing that supplementing with vitamin D can actually improve autoimmune conditions.

So the study that we discussed a while back was very exciting in that regard. Now, thankfully, another follow-up study has shown similar results.

And I’ll put the abstract up here on the screen. And I’ll quote for you. The title of the study was “The Effect of Vitamin D on Thyroid Autoimmunity in Levothyroxine-Treated Women with Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis and Normal Vitamin D Status.” (1a)

So a couple things that we can pull away just from the title is that this was treating women who had hypothyroidism and were on Levothyroxine therapy and—and this is maybe even more important—they also had normal vitamin D levels. So they were above 20.

And so even for women with normal—and again, what we call normal is somewhat debatable—but generally normal levels of vitamin D still benefited from some additional vitamin D supplementation with regards to their thyroid autoimmunity.

Vitamin D reduced the thyroid peroxidase antibodies and the thyroglobulin antibodies, two of the more common antibodies that are tested to assess the activity of thyroid autoimmunity. The greater effect was in the TPO antibodies.

And I’ll read the conclusion here. “Vitamin D preparations may reduce thyroid autoimmunity in Levothyroxine-treated women with Hashimoto’s thyroiditis and normal vitamin D status.”

So very exciting, because what this means is you could simply take a maintenance dose of maybe 2, 4, or 6000 IUs of vitamin D a day, even if you have normal vitamin D levels, and see a positive impact on your thyroid autoimmunity.

You do want to be careful not to over-supplement with vitamin D, because levels that are too high can also be problematic. But certainly, a lower, maintenance-type dose of around 2-ish-thousand IUs a day is very reasonable and may help with thyroid autoimmunity.

I’ll also link to the review of the previous study on vitamin D aiding with thyroid autoimmunity, where they showed a 20% reduction in TPO antibodies after supplementing with vitamin D. (2a)

So what’s really nice about this study and the nice piece that it adds to the whole picture is that even in women with normal or semi-normal vitamin D, additional supplementation of vitamin D can help benefit thyroid autoimmunity.

Now, there are many things that fit into the mosaic of managing thyroid autoimmunity. Vitamin D is one. Selenium is another that may be helpful. And the health of one’s gut can also be incredibly important, so don’t forget about that.

I guess that’s it. If you’re struggling with thyroid autoimmunity, then vitamin D may be a nice option to help quell that process.

This is Dr. Ruscio. And I hope this information helps you get healthy and get back to your life. Thanks!

If you need help with thyroid autoimmunity, click here.

What do you think? I would like to hear your thoughts or experience with this.

Dr. Ruscio is your leading functional and integrative doctor specializing in gut related disorders such as SIBO, leaky gut, Celiac, IBS and in thyroid disorders such as hypothyroid and hyperthyroid. For more information on how to become a patient, please contact our office. Serving the San Francisco bay area and distance patients via phone and Skype.