Dr. Simeons commented that low thyroid does not cause of obesity. In fact, he recommended that thyroid meds NOT be taken while doing the protocol. Furthermore, a low Basal Metabolic Rate (i.e., indicated by lower body temperature first thing in the morning) gets reversed on the HCG diet. Research generally supports these points now.

Unfortunately, too many people are misdiagnosed with hypothyroidism and, as a consequence, inappropriately prescribed thyroid medication. The problem of underperforming thyroid is almost always due to iodine deficiency. The best information on this topic is the book by Dr. David Brownstein, ”

Here is a link to Amazon for this book. You can find more information about it there.

Dr. Brownsteins’s book explains how Americans have become iodine deficient and what to do about it. The key regarding the HCG weight loss diet is that iodine restores thyroid health whereas iodine drugs do not.

You will also find that thyroid meds slow down weight loss on the HCG diet. It is all tied in with the hypothalamus and the hormone receptors there for HCG and thyroid hormone. Nobody has a really good explanation for this.

One more thing that I can say, from my perspective as a biochemist, is that the best that thyroid meds can do is provide iodine. The hormones themselves, as well as the synthetic versions of them, contain iodine. The chemical structure of thyroxine, for example, shows four iodine atoms (each place where there is an “I” in this picture).

It makes sense that iodine deficiency shows up as low thyroid hormone. The body won’t make enough hormone if there isn’t enough iodine in the first place.

The bottom line for most people is simply going to be supplementing with iodine. By the way, the RDA of iodine (150 micrograms) is about one-tenth what it should be. And most people don’t even take in the RDA. Food does not offer it, unless it is seafood. And then it is only ionic iodine. Dr. Brownstein explains the importance of getting different forms of iodine and how to optimize the dosages for maximum thyroid health.

SIDENOTE: In reading about Dr. Brownstein’s research, I was also flabbergasted to see the role of iodine deficiency in breast cancer and prostate cancer. Actually, I am still flabbergasted about this!

Dr. Simeons was right on target about the role of the thyroid, or rather the lack of it, in obesity. Nevertheless, it is critical to get this gland functioning correctly for getting the best results for fat loss on the HCG diet.

All the best in natural health,

Dr. D