Table of contents:
- What is the relationship between thyroid hormones and body cholesterol levels?
- Is it true that thyroid hormones are the cause of high cholesterol?
- What is the right treatment for this condition?
When you find out that someone has high cholesterol levels, what is the first thing that comes to your mind? You may think that family heredity, diet, and lifestyle are the main drivers. Though not always, you know. It is possible that the person has a problem with the thyroid hormone levels in the body. In fact, the production of thyroid hormones can be a cause of high cholesterol?
What is the relationship between thyroid hormones and body cholesterol levels?
The thyroid is a small butterfly-shaped gland located in the neck. The function of this gland is to produce thyroid hormone which later is responsible for regulating the body's metabolic processes.
Not only that, thyroid hormones are also needed to regulate body temperature, mood, body growth, children's brain development, and help the heart, brain and other organs work.
In order to support its duties, the thyroid gland is assisted by the pituitary gland in the brain. The pituitary gland will regulate all thyroid gland activity, as well as detect when thyroid hormone production is low in the body.
When this happens, the pituitary gland releases thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH). The goal is that the thyroid gland can produce thyroid hormones in greater amounts.
Meanwhile cholesterol is a waxy substance resembling fat, which is present in all body cells. Although it is often underestimated because it is dangerous, the body actually needs cholesterol to produce hormones and bile acids which will aid in the digestion of fat.
However, cholesterol levels that are too high can have bad consequences, resulting in heart disease. This means that your "bad" LDL cholesterol levels are more than your "good" HDL cholesterol levels.
After seeing this difference between the thyroid gland and cholesterol levels, there may be more and more questions that come to your mind. Particularly related to how the thyroid gland affects the increase in body cholesterol levels.
Is it true that thyroid hormones are the cause of high cholesterol?
Apart from those previously mentioned, thyroid hormone also has an important role to play in getting rid of excess cholesterol that is not needed by the body. When the body does not produce enough thyroid hormone, the body's metabolic processes will automatically decrease.
Here, the body will find it difficult to break down and remove excess cholesterol so that there is a buildup of LDL or "bad" cholesterol. This is what causes high cholesterol levels in the blood.
This is also proven by a study published in JAMA Internal Medicine, that about 13 percent of people with high cholesterol levels have an underactive thyroid gland.
The same conditions apply to elevated TSH levels. According to the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism, high TSH levels can directly increase cholesterol levels, even though the thyroid hormone in the blood is not high.
What is the right treatment for this condition?
If you suspect a problem with your thyroid gland or your body's cholesterol levels, your doctor will order blood tests to measure your TSH and thyroid hormone levels. The goal is to assess whether the thyroid gland is working actively or not.
There are several drugs that will be given if the thyroid gland is not working actively, such as Levothyroxine, Levoxyl, Novothyrox, and Synthroid.
Not only that, cholesterol-lowering drugs such as statins will also be given to reduce high cholesterol levels.
Another case, if the thyroid gland is too active, the doctor can give radioactive iodine to help shrink the gland and drugs to reduce thyroid hormone production.
