If you tend to suffer from yeast infections, depression, anxiety, weight gain, and other problems linked to an overgrowth of the wrong type of candida in your digestive system, listen up. A groundbreaking study has found that digestive distress can actually trigger a series of events leading directly to thyroid damage. The thyroid is an important part of the body’s preventative and maintenance systems of health, and a damaged thyroid will almost certainly lead to other consequences.
Candida is also linked to some of the factors that have been found in celiac patients. In fact, many patients with candida problems also have celiac, and sometimes this condition developed after the candida overgrowth. Here is what you need to know about the link between candida and thyroid damage.
Celiac and Gluten Links
Most of us know that people with severe enough gluten intolerance that they are diagnosed as celiac sufferers have thyroid problems, but the link has never been so clear before. Scientists discovered that transglutaminase (a celiac problem) triggers autoimmune antibodies in the body, which then latch onto thyroid tissue. The production of thyroid antibodies damages thyroid tissue.
The researchers chose patients with gluten intolerance on normal diets, gluten-free diets, with Crohn’s disease, and normal controls in order to prove this link. They therefore found that the antibodies defending against transglutaminase can contribute to thyroid disease in celiac patients.
Transglutaminase and Candida
While celiac patients will benefit from this research, there is another source of transglutaminase: candida. When you suffer from an overgrowth of candida, a inflammatory response to the bacteria will often damage the digestive tract. If you can’t picture this, imagine weeds sprouting in a lawn. As they grow, their roots disturb the lawn’s structure.
Candida uses dead digestive tract cells to make a shell around itself like a turtle’s shell so that it can hide from your immune system. It attaches these shells to the wall of your digestive tract with threads of transglutaminase, and when gluten passes through the transglutaminase, the inflammatory reaction can generate celiac-like antibodies.
Candida and Celiac
Because candida tries to outwit the immune system by producing celiac antibodies, you may find yourself developing celiac, even if you didn’t have it before. Candida can directly contribute to the development of celiac, and celiac can cause thyroid damage. This explains the elevated thyroid antibodies and damaged thyroids of many people with candida, and the improved lifestyle of those who maintain their digestive tracts properly.
If you want to avoid causing celiac-related problems, you may be able to do so by cutting down on sugar-laden foods, beer and other foods that contain yeast, and other foods that will contribute to candida growth.
By balancing one element of your immune system and digestive health, others will follow. Since it’s hard to start by fixing your thyroid, an indirect solution will do – make sure you balance your digestive tract to prevent overgrowth of candida. Eat candida-killing foods, take probiotics properly, and don’t indulge in a sugar-filled diet, or your digestive tract can get out of balance and worsen thyroid function.
Lisa Richards suffered from low energy levels, headaches, indigestion, food cravings and brain fog for years before discovering that Candida was the cause. She now spends her time sharing her findings in an effort to help others.
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