A slow thyroid can be caused by a very lengthy list of things, but minerals are something that is often overlooked. 

Minerals play a huge part in the health, vitality and overall function of our thyroids and thyroid hormones.

So, let’s dive deep into a couple of the more important ones.

Iodine

The thyroid can’t function without iodine. So to say the two are connected is a bit of an understatement!

You may have heard me say how the two main thyroid hormones are T3 and T4, well those numbers indicate how many iodine molecules are present. T3 has three iodine molecules, and T4 has four. This means if you don’t have enough iodine in your body, your thyroid will be pretty unhappy.

Your body makes these thyroid hormones. T3 is the active hormone that your body uses, whereas T4 is inactive. T4 needs to be converted to T3 before it can actually do its job. 

This conversion process is supported by a number of other minerals, making them also crucial to the health of your thyroid.

Selenium

This is a biggie! Selenium really drives that T4 to T3 thyroid hormone conversion and your thyroid won’t function properly if your selenium levels are too low.

Interestingly, when I start looking at mineral supplements for my clients, I’ve found that increasing selenium first before increasing iodine has lead to much better results, as it puts the selenium in place, ready to start making those thyroid hormone conversions.

Boron & Potassium

When we talk about healthy diets, supplements, and all that fun nutrition stuff, boron is often one that’s not mentioned. Which is wild because it does so much in the body!

When it comes to the thyroid, boron also assists with that thyroid hormone conversion.

Potassium, on the other hand, does often get brought up when we’re talking about healthy eating. Which is great, in part because it also helps with that thyroid conversion. 

Yet, when I do Hair Tissue Mineral Analysis testing on my clients, I still often see potassium levels being extremely low. 

But why do we care about this? 

Well, when I look at my clients’ full thyroid panels, what I often see is that they have enough T3 and T4, and TSH levels may even look normal, too. But they’re still having symptoms of a slow thyroid.

That means there’s a conversion problem. That T4 isn’t converting into T3.

A mineral imbalance when we’re low on things like selenium, boron, and potassium can be the major culprits.

Magnesium

The role that magnesium plays with the thyroid is helping to balance out calcium. 

If you have too much calcium in your body, your thyroid hormones will start to decline. Elevated calcium levels will desensitize your thyroid hormone, stop it from working properly, and will also slow down your hormone conversion.

Magnesium comes in and makes sure those calcium levels aren’t getting out of control, making it a really important mineral in this process.

Again, this is one I often see coming up as low on mineral tests, especially in relation to calcium.

The minerals our thyroid needs are easily accessible in many foods and dietary supplements. With the right information, you can make simple choices to improve thyroid health. And minimize the thyroid hormone effects that happen so often in women.

And if you have any questions, please get in touch with me.

You can also grab my FREE guide on 5 Causes of Hypothyroidism right here.