Supplements are supposed to do just what their name says: supplement your health and fill in any potential nutritional gaps that your diet can’t or doesn’t cover.
However, supplements can cause complications when they interact with certain medications, which can be serious—and that’s aside from supplements not being regulated by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), which is a whole other (quite serious) issue.
One example of a medication that may interact with some supplements is thyroid medication, especially levothyroxine.
Levothyroxine is commonly prescribed to patients with hypothyroidism, which is when your thyroid is underactive and doesn’t produce enough hormones. Endocrinologists may also prescribe this medication for enlarged thyroid glands (sometimes called goiter). It’s also sometimes used as a component of thyroid-dependent well-differentiated thyroid cancer treatment, which also typically entails surgery and radioiodine therapy, according to Cleveland Clinic.
Find out what supplement endocrinologists specifically say to approach with caution if you’re on thyroid medication.
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The Supplement Endocrinologists Say To Avoid if You’re on Thyroid Medication
This one is frustrating, because it’s such a common supplement, especially for women: It’s calcium! Since it’s a key nutrient for bone health, many women (yours truly included) may supplement their diets with extra calcium, especially if they have a high risk for or family history of osteoporosis.
The good news? You may not have to eschew calcium supplements entirely if you’re on thyroid medication, endocrinologists agree, but you do need to exercise extra care and caution with your dosage of both your medication and your supplements.
According to Dr. Rachel Pessah-Pollack, MD, FACE, endocrinologist and clinical professor of medicine at NYU Langone Health, calcium supplements aren’t inherently harmful to patients taking thyroid medication, but the timing is key to making sure it’s a healthy move.
“Calcium supplements can affect whether you get your full dose of thyroid medication and it may be necessary to change the timing of your calcium supplements to ensure you are absorbing your full dose of levothyroxine,” Dr. Pessah-Pollack explains. “If you take your calcium too close to your levothyroxine, you may not get your prescribed dose. I recommend to my patients on levothyroxine to take their thyroid medication on an empty stomach away from food and other medications, including vitamins, and to separate their vitamins by at least four hours from when they take their levothyroxine, especially for calcium.”
Related: The Morning Habit That’s Actually Making You More Tired by Noon, According to Endocrinologists
How To Protect and Encourage Bone Health if You’re on Thyroid Medication
You can still take calcium supplements to protect and preserve your precious bones, even if you’re on medication to treat hypothyroidism—just be smart about when and how you take your supplements relative to your meds.
“Calcium supplements can generally be taken safely with thyroid medication, but timing is important for anyone on levothyroxine,” MedStar Health endocrinologist Dr. Anar Modi, MD, emphasizes. “Calcium can bind to levothyroxine in gastrointestinal tract and decrease absorption of levothyroxine. I recommend separating the calcium supplement by four hours from thyroid medication. For example, if someone takes thyroid replacement medication in morning, they can take calcium with lunch or dinner. This interaction does not generally apply to antithyroid medications such as methimazole or PTU (propylthiouracil) used to treat hyperthyroidism (an overactive thyroid).”
Dr. Modi adds that if you’re taking appropriate doses of hypothyroid medication and keeping your thyroid hormone levels in healthy ranges, the medication itself doesn’t pose a risk to bone health, and that there are other ways to boost your bone health overall that don’t necessarily require a supplement.
“However, taking too much thyroid hormone for a prolonged period of time can contribute to bone loss,” she warns. “Untreated or inadequately treated controlled hyperthyroidism can also lead to bone loss. Taking adequate amount of calcium and vitamin D along with regular weight-bearing exercises can be protective for bones. Women age 51 years and older need about 1,200 mg of calcium per day from supplement or diet or both.”
If you aren’t sure how much calcium you need or if you’re getting enough from your diet, talk to your doctor and/or a registered dietitian and let them know everything you’re currently eating and all the medications and supplements you’re taking so they can determine the best route for you.
Related: ‘I’m an Endocrinologist—This Is the First Thing I Check When Someone Can’t Lose Weight’
Photo by Sven Mieke on Unsplash
Other Supplements To Use With Caution if You Take Thyroid Medication
According to endocrinologist Dr. Malek Cheikh, MD, depending on your personal health history and prescriptions, most supplements are relatively safe to use, even if you’re on thyroid medication—but some in particular require more caution than others regarding timing, just like calcium.
“None are risky but some supplements may blunt the absorption of levothyroxine and we request it to be separated in timing and not necessarily avoid it,” Dr. Cheikh tells Parade. “The ones that come to mind would be iron, magnesium-containing antiacids, phosphate binders, proton pump inhibitors and soy products.”
Dr. Modi adds one particular common supplement to be wary of, especially if you have bloodwork coming up.
“Biotin found in hair and nail supplements does not interfere with thyroid medication itself,” she says, “but it can interfere with thyroid blood tests and produce misleading results.”
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Sources
Dr. Malek Cheikh, MD, endocrinologist at MedStar Health Dr. Anar Modi, MD, endocrinologist at MedStar Health Dr. Rachel Pessah-Pollack, MD, FACE, endocrinologist and clinical professor of medicine at NYU Langone HealthHence then, the article about endocrinologists are begging people to stop pairing this common supplement with thyroid medication was published today ( ) and is available on Parade ( Saudi Arabia ) The editorial team at PressBee has edited and verified it, and it may have been modified, fully republished, or quoted. You can read and follow the updates of this news or article from its original source.
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