7-Tips-For-Hypothyroidism-Caused-By-Perchlorates
Suzy Cohen, Guest
Thyroid Nation

Perchlorates can Cause Hypothyroidism

I’m bothered when the discussion of food toxins or allergens get brought up during meals, as it can crash your whole dining experience, but since none of us are eating right now, I’ll tell you about perchlorates. You can eat foods contaminated with that. This pervasive toxin attacks thyroid function. Thyroid hormone gives you energy, improves mood, regulates heart rhythm, stimulates hair growth and helps you burn fat.

 When you drink or eat contaminated foods with perchlorates, they compete with iodine preventing uptake, and this reduces thyroid function. We know for a fact perchlorates inhibit the “sodium-iodide symporter” and perchlorates are sometimes injected intravenously into people in order to test them for Hashimoto’s thyroiditis.

Suzy-Cohen-Book-Thyroid-Nation-Ad2Whether you eat it, drink it or get exposed during a test, perchlorates can lead to hypothyroidism. That is associated weight gain, fatigue and infertility.

The National Institute of Health (NIH) describes perchlorate as a natural and man-made colorless, odorless chemical commonly used to make pool chlorination chemicals and chlorine-derived cleaners, rocket flares, fireworks, military munitions, blasting agents, matches, car air bag inflators, batteries, fertilizers, chewing tobacco, aluminum refining, and more. Yep, pretty much EVERYWHERE!

As a result, perchlorate has contaminated our groundwater supply. People living on the East coast, California, Texas, or the southwest have the highest environmental exposures and their foods grown there are most contaminated. Water, eggs, milk, fruits and vegetables (lettuce, asparagus, kale, spinach) have high amounts. (be cautious)

Leafy greens, rich in natural folate, have a lot of perchlorates present if they are grown in perchlorated-contaminated water! Choosing “organic” won’t matter with perchlorates, however there are other benefits. I’m not saying to avoid this, just try to buy your leafy greens from states that don’t have a high environmental risk. You’ll have to do more research on this, or read my above paragraph.

Moms, all hypothyroid, measured their perchlorate levels during the first trimester.

The women tested positive for perchlorates, and were all iodine deficient. Click To Tweet

Perchlorate has a fast turn-over in the body which prompts the Perchlorate Information Bureau to reports that low levels of this chemical in drinking water and food supplies is not dangerous to human health. Even the FDA says it’s no biggie: FDA is not recommending that consumers of any age alter their diet or eating habits due to perchlorate.

I disagree.

The first study of its kind recently evaluated perchlorate exposure in pregnant women to see what happened to brain development in offspring. Scientists included 487 expectant mothers -all hypothyroid- and measured their perchlorate levels during the first trimester.

The women tested positive for perchlorates, and were all iodine deficient. No surprise there, remember, iodine is bullied off the receptor sites in the presence of perchlorate. Iodine deficiency can lead to hypothyroidism. 


Researchers followed the women who had the highest perchlorate levels during pregnancy through birth and until their children were 3 years old. The toddlers all had diminished cognitive development and were in the lowest 10th percentile of IQ. I wonder how many of these moms had experienced a miscarriage during their life, as hypothyroidism is a common (but sadly missed) cause of miscarriage.

What’s so interesting is that thyroid medications were employed, and in fact, use of thyroid medications by moms with the highest perchlorate exposure did not even help offset the lower IQ in their children. The medicine didn’t even matter. The study did not say if the children were hypothyroid from birth. If they are, it should be a lifetime of thyroid hormone replenishment, either medication or supplemental.




What can you do? (7 Tips)


Avoidance. Avoid exposure to fruits and vegetables grown in areas with elevated levels of perchlorates. Do not expose yourself to any of the sources of perchlorate that I listed above.

Iodine.  When perchlorates are in your body, and also iodine, it is a race to the receptor site. Either perchlorate or iodine will occupy the sites, and get hugged into the cell. Because perchlorate compounds have a relatively short half-life, having iodine on board could help. Before you take iodine or kelp, read more about iodine and salt by clicking here.

Selenium. Drinking perchlorate-contaminated water can cause a deficiency of selenium.

Glutathione or NAC. Having an antioxidant on board can help neutralize the free radical damage that is spawned.

Stop chewing tobacco. It’s a source of perchlorate. It’s been detected in various brands of chewing tobacco.

Stop playing with gun powder. Well, I’m kind of joking, none of us are doing that but we might be ‘playing’ with pool chemicals or chlorinated products. Stop that because that is a source of perchlorate.

Milk. Not sure what to say, perchlorates are found in certain milks.

Stay up-to-date, get tips, articles and stories that inspire, on all things thyroid!

About the Author

suzycohenSuzy Cohen, RPh, has been a licensed pharmacist for 24 years and a Functional Medicine practitioner for 15 years. In particular, she loves Mother Nature’s medicine cabinet and thinks our planet Earth provides every “drug” we need. Does she ever advocate the use of pharmaceuticals? Absolutely, medications can be a blessing at certain times. Her mission is to teach about natural options that work as well, or better than medications. At 49 years old, she totally ‘gets’ that vibrant health is our most important blessing and feels like we’re in this together. Because she has intense training in human biochemistry and metabolic pathways, she knows exactly how natural herbs and drugs affect your body. The Functional Medicine perspective, married with her pharmacy background and combined with 20 years as a caregiver gives her incredible perspective on ways to get YOU better! Additionally, she has personal experience with thyroid issues and discusses it in her newest book, Thyroid HealthyBest-selling authorSuzy Cohen, RPh, is also a syndicated columnistFollow her at SuzyCohen.com! Learn much more about becoming  thyroid healthy and get free advice Click Here and to learn more about your thyroid and proper testing, Click Here.

PLEASE take a moment to ‘Like’ Thyroid Nation on Facebook and listen to us on Thyroid Nation RADIOTwitter and Periscope.

 Questions or anything to ask Suzy about the perchlorates? We want your thoughts in the comments section–Please!