Today on the Gut Health Reset Podcast, we are discussing Hashimoto’s disease, thyroid, and more with Dr. Anshul Gupta! For those who suffer from Hashimoto’s disease, it’s important to not only focus on your thyroid, but also on your gut health. Recent studies have found a direct link between gut health and Hashimoto’s disease. It’s believed that an imbalance in gut bacteria can cause inflammation and immune system dysfunction, leading to Hashimoto’s disease. This highlights the importance of maintaining a healthy gut microbiome by including probiotics, prebiotics, and fiber-rich foods in your diet. If you suffer from Hashimoto’s disease, you may be able to improve your overall thyroid health and reduce the impact of autoimmune flare-ups by focusing on improving your gut health.

In today’s episode, we will answer these questions:

– What is Hashimoto’s disease?

– What is the difference between conventional treatment vs a functional treatment for Hashimoto’s?

– What is the surprising connection between gut health and Hashimoto’s disease?

– How is SIBO connected to thyroid disorders?

– And more!

Still want to learn more? Schedule with Dr. Barter today!

Recommended Products From Today’s Show

Thyroid Support

Wired But Tired

About Dr. Gupta:

Dr. Anshul Gupta is a best-selling author, speaker, researcher, and the world expert in Hashimoto’s disease. He educates people worldwide on reversing Hashimoto’s disease. He is a Board-Certified Family Medicine Physician, with advanced certification in Functional Medicine, Peptide therapy, and also Fellowship trained in Integrative Medicine. He has worked at the prestigious Cleveland Clinic Department of Functional Medicine alongside Dr. Mark Hyman. He has helped thousands of patients to reverse their health issues by using the concepts of functional medicine.

Website: https://www.anshulguptamd.com/

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Dr. Ann-Marie Barter is a Functional Medicine and Chiropractic Doctor at Alternative Family Medicine & Chiropractic. She is the clinic founder of Alternative Family Medicine & Chiropractic that has two offices: one in Longmont and one in Denver. They treat an array of health conditions overlooked or under-treated by conventional medicine, called the “grey zone”. https://altfammed.com/

https://drannmariebarter.com/

*As always, this podcast is not designed to diagnose, treat, prevent or cure any condition and is for information purposes only. Please consult with your healthcare professional before making any changes to your current lifestyle.*

Transcription:

Dr. Anshul Gupta (00:00):
These trillions of bacteria that lives in our gut. Basically we have more external D n A in our body than we have our own D n A because of these trillions of bacteria that contributes the D n A towards our health. So what happens is that because we have trillions of bacteria, some good not, some not so good, right? And most of this bacteria lives in either the large intestine or somewhere near that they’re not supposed to be present in the small intestine. So when we see that there is an overgrowth or presence of this kind of bacteria in the small intestine, that’s what basically we call as sibo.
Disclaimer (00:36):
The information provided in this podcast is educational and not intended to diagnose or treat medical conditions.
Dr. Ann-Marie Barter (00:42):
Are you struggling with bloating, gas, constipation, and fatigue, but don’t know what’s causing these problems? The Gut Health Reset Podcast with Dr. Anne-Marie barter dive steep into the root causes behind these issues that start in the gut. This podcast will give you the knowledge you need to heal your gut and reset your health. Today on the Gut Health Reset Podcast, we are going to talk about Hashimoto’s and how Hashimoto’s thyroid disease is linked to the gut and some strategies to help to lower your antibodies and potentially reverse your Hashimoto’s. Thank you so much for joining us here today on the Gut Health Reset Podcast. I am your host, Dr. Anne-Marie Barter, and today my special guest is Dr. Gupta. He is a bestselling author, speaker, researcher, and a world expert on Hashimoto’s disease. He educates people worldwide on reversing Hashimoto’s disease. He is a board certified family medicine physician with advanced certification and functional medicine peptide theory and is also fellowship trained in integrative medicine. He has worked at the prestigious Cleveland Clinic Department of Functional Medicine alongside Dr. Mark Hyman. He has helped thousands of patients reverse their health issues by using concepts of functional medicine. Dr. Gupta, thank you so much for being with us today. I really appreciate having you here today.
Dr. Anshul Gupta (02:15):
It’s really a pleasure coming over here and talking about this important topic, and I really appreciate the work that you’re doing spreading the positive information among all the people.
Dr. Ann-Marie Barter (02:25):
So I really like what you are lecturing on, which is primarily Hashimoto’s and you’ve written a book about steps to address and reverse Hashimoto’s, but it being the Gut Health podcast, we’re going to get into that in just a second. What is Hashimoto’s for starters?
Dr. Anshul Gupta (02:47):
Absolutely. So Hashimoto’s, the disease is an autoimmune condition of a thyroid gland in this condition. Your body starts producing antibodies, which starts a very slow destruction of the thyroid gland and ultimately people actually get diagnosed with hypothyroidism. But in reality, most people don’t know the real reason of their hypothyroidism is Hashimoto’s disease.
Dr. Ann-Marie Barter (03:11):
It’s very common, isn’t it?
Dr. Anshul Gupta (03:13):
Is it’s the most common autoimmune condition worldwide.
Dr. Ann-Marie Barter (03:18):
And why has it become so common?
Dr. Anshul Gupta (03:23):
So there are various theories behind it. Obviously we don’t not know the exact reason, and that goes back into that why do people develop Hashimoto’s disease? So research is very clear. It says that Hashimoto’s disease happens because of an interplay between a person’s genetic pool and the environment around us. Now, our genetic pool has not changed so much in the last decade or so because it takes millions of years to change it. So the only thing which has changed is our environment around us, and that is the reason we are seeing such a high incidence of Hashimoto disease. And this environment comprises about food we eat, the air we breathe, the toxins that we get exposed to different kinds of infections that are going around as well as our gut microbiome. All those things is the environment that our body plays around day in, day out. And that’s the reason that we are seeing an increase incidence of Hashimoto is because this environment is totally changed from it was before.
Dr. Ann-Marie Barter (04:23):
So we’re getting these triggers into our genetic code specifically that are giving us problems with our thyroid gland and antibodies to attack our thyroid. Absolutely.
(04:36):
And so generally being in practice, a lot of folks will come in, they’re on level thyroxine or Synthroid that is specifically for the thyroid, right? I know you’re smiling because what’s coming next. And so they are on basically thyroid replacement medication. And it’s interesting because some people initially feel better on that and then that kind of wanes and then they need more and more. And so what is the difference? Because I think that a lot of people think thyroid disease is treated the same, but what is the difference between maybe conventional treatment for the thyroid gland in a functional medicine approach to treating the thyroid gland?
Dr. Anshul Gupta (05:22):
The difference is totally opposite management because as you said, the only medicine available with conventional doctors is the levothyroxine and that’s the only thing they can prescribe. They do not have anything to treat the real reason, which is the Hashimoto’s disease or this autoimmune component to it. So what basically happens is that people are being diagnosed with lot thyroid and they’re giving this levothyroxine as a bandaid to their thyroid, but they are left alone to tackle this inflammation and this autoimmunity on their own. Nothing is being done. And that’s these, and slowly and slowly, the thyroid gland is being destroyed to the point that people need more and more medications as they go along. And the interesting fact is that the research studies show that more than 60 to 70% of people who have Hashimoto’s disease and they’re still taking medicines, they still continue to suffer from symptoms of Hashimoto’s because in reality, we are not treating Hashimoto’s. We are just putting a patch on the thyroid gland by giving them thyroid hormone. And in functional medicine, we go to the root cause of the problem and figure out why that particular person developed Hashimoto’s disease in first place. And then in a stepwise fashion, we address all of those root causes and not only we improve the quality of the life, but we are also able to reduce those antibodies. And in some cases we are able to reverse a disease also.
Dr. Ann-Marie Barter (06:46):
And I think another important point is the blood work. So it seems like when you go in traditionally to get your labs run, thyroid stimulating hormone or T S H is generally part of that panel, but you’re not seeing a lot of additional tests run. Sometimes you see three T three run or T four, but for the most part it might be those three are just t s h. So do you feel like the blood testing for functional medicine, I mean I personally think that it’s definitely more comprehensive checking the antibodies, for example, to make sure to rule in or to rule out if you have Hashimoto’s itself, right?
Dr. Anshul Gupta (07:32):
Absolutely, yes. And again, most people know that they have a thyroid disorder like hypothyroidism, but they have never been checked for Hashimoto’s. So you’re absolutely correct that it’s such a simple test. Each and every lab offers the test and you’re same blood work that is been drawn, but checking your thyroid can also be checking these thyroid antibodies. And there’s just simply two thyroid antibodies you need to check for. One is T P O, which is a thyroid peroxidase antibody, and the other one is a thyroid globulin antibodies. And if your blood tests shows that your antibody levels are higher than the reference range of that lab, that itself is enough to diagnose you with Hashimoto’s disease. You don’t need a biopsy, you don’t need an ultrasound, you don’t need fancy tests. These simple tests can tell you whether you have Hashimoto’s disease or not.
Dr. Ann-Marie Barter (08:20):
And I’m sure a lot of folks are wondering out there, why are we hitting the thyroid gland so hard on the Gut Health Reset podcast? Right? And so I promise guys, I’m getting to how it connects to the gut, but I want to know what maybe some of the symptoms someone would experience with Hashimoto’s specifically, if you wouldn’t mind going through those.
Dr. Anshul Gupta (08:43):
Absolutely, and this is where the gut gets connected with Hashimoto’s because one of the major symptoms that Hashimoto’s people go through are gut related symptoms. Either it is constipation or diarrhea or bloating or stomach cramping, even acid reflux symptoms. All of these things are very common symptoms that Hashimoto’s people go through. Now, besides these, the other symptoms that are more common are fatigue or being tired or having weight issues where they’re not able to lose weight or they just keep on gaining weight. Then brain fog is also another major symptom that a lot of people go through. And then we have other minor symptoms of hair fall or hair thinning, skin issues of rashes on the skin, infertility issues, cold intolerances. So all of those symptoms that are associated with Hashimoto’s.
Dr. Ann-Marie Barter (09:31):
Okay, so some of the gut issues. So we have acid reflux, and we do know that h pylori has somewhat,
Dr. Ann-Marie Barter (09:39):
It has been
Dr. Ann-Marie Barter (09:40):
Linked to thyroid gland disorders. Can you speak a little bit to that?
Dr. Anshul Gupta (09:45):
Absolutely. So again, speaking back to Hashimoto’s disease and what are the root causes of it? One of the major root causes is gut related infections. And h pylori is definitely one of those gut related infection, which can definitely lead to triggering of Hashimoto seeds. And again, a lot of people are not being checked for h pylori, they have these acid reflux problem ongoing for a long time they’re giving PPIs or acid suppression medicines, but in reality, it can be the edge ploi, which is triggering their Hashimoto’s seizure causing the thyroid problem. And the thyroid in turn is causing their acid suppression in their stomach, and that is again, feeding to that edge ploi overgrowth. So it’s kind of the loop that people go through that initially starts with the H pide, then the thyroid gets affected, the thyroid lowers your stomach acid, and the lower stomach acid actually increases the H poid infection further in your gut and people just are not able to break that loop.
Dr. Ann-Marie Barter (10:45):
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Dr. Ann-Marie Barter (11:53):
Visit Dr. Anne-Marie barter and get 10% off your supplement bundle. Ciao. And now back to our episode. Absolutely. In the second one, maybe a SIBO infection. Could you go into a little bit about how sibo, what it is and how it is linked to thyroid disorders?
Dr. Anshul Gupta (12:18):
Absolutely. So SIBO is basically small intestinal bacterial overgrowth. Now, most people listen to this podcast, I’m sure they know about their gut microbiome.
Dr. Ann-Marie Barter (12:27):
We’ve hit it hard here. We have hit it hard.
Dr. Anshul Gupta (12:31):
Exactly. And I’m sure, and that is so important to hit it hard because it basically is one of those gems that we have figured out in the last decade, these trillions of bacteria that lives in our gut. Basically we have more external D n A in our body than we have our own D n A because of these trillions of bacteria that contributes their D n A towards our health. So what happens is that because we have trillions of bacteria, some good, some not so good, and most of this bacteria lives in either the large intestine or somewhere near that they’re not supposed to be present in the small intestine. So when we see that there is an overgrowth or presence of this kind of bacteria in the small ine, that’s what basically we call a sibo. Most people know them as bad bacteria or overgrowth of bad bacteria in their gut.
(13:20):
Now what the SIBO causes is multiple problems. The first thing, what it leads to is that it actually leads to not able to absorb different vitamins and minerals from a small intestine. And we know that thyroid needs good minerals like iodine, like iron, like magnesium, B vitamins, and all of these absorption is happening in the small intestine because the sibo, they’re not able to absorb these nutrients, and that ultimately obviously affects the thyroid. The second thing is that the SIBO also leads to inflammation in the gut, and there is a strong connection between the gut and thyroid. When there is inflammation present in the gut, that leads to ultimate inflammation in the thyroid, and that again triggers Hashimoto’s disease. The other thing SIBO causes is something called leaky gut, right? The leaky gut is a major concept which is linked to all the autoimmune conditions and SIBO definitely because of all that inflammatory products which are happening in the SIBO damages, the gut junctures and leads to leaky gut, which flares up the Hashimoto’s disease and triggers that. So various ways SIBO actually affects the Hashimoto’s and the thyroid disorder.
Dr. Ann-Marie Barter (14:27):
So many different areas. And I mean, what do you think comes first gut issues or thyroid issues? Or is it just like It could be, could be either or.
Dr. Anshul Gupta (14:40):
It could be either or. But definitely I feel that in majority of the cases, it is the gut which gets affected first, and that leads to these thyroid problems. And then because we know that the thyroid hormone is so vital for gut functioning that again, it makes the gut even worse. And that’s the reason most people with thyroid disorders have several years of gut related symptoms, and suddenly they feel that the symptoms have gotten worse in the last few years since they got a diagnosis of thyroid disorder.
Dr. Ann-Marie Barter (15:13):
What about, you also have stated that candida could also be a contributing factor as well between the thyroid and gut connection. Can you talk a little bit about that?
Dr. Anshul Gupta (15:26):
Absolutely. So again, we know majority of time about sibo, which is the overgrowth of bacteria, but there is also sifo, which is the overgrowth of fungal growth, which happens in the gut. Candida plays such a big role in the sifo. Now, candida is one of those parasites or one of those kind of yeast, which can actually change our immune system and turn it against our own body. And this is what happens in Hashimoto’s sees is that basically our immune system gets turned against our own body and that starts this autoimmune process, and candida is master in doing that. Candida lives kind of under the radar in our gut, and then slow destruction starts happening because of this candida. It hijacks our immune system slowly and slowly lowers our gut immunity, and then that lowered gut immunity. We get other infections associated with candida, and that again leads to this Hashimoto disease. So that’s a very, very major problem that candida causes. And then plus candida also causes various hormonal dysfunction. It kind of hijacks our cortisol systems or a adrenal system. That’s the reason we get all those sugar cravings. We are mood changes which are happening in a lot of females, which feeling fatigue or tiredness or brain fog is a major cause of candida. Because of that,
Dr. Ann-Marie Barter (16:48):
I feel like we have adequately, we’ve hit a lot with the gut in a pretty quick fashion, but it’s definitely all related. But you’ve written a book called Reversing, and so what sets your book apart from some of the other books out there?
Dr. Anshul Gupta (17:08):
Absolutely. So there are great books which have been written on Hashimoto’s. What I figured out was that those books are written in a language or in terminology, which are very heavily focused on just giving the science behind it. And a lot of people were not able to understand or what exactly was going on. You’re going to make it easy to understand. And plus, a lot of times they do not give you a stepwise protocol to fix things. So I wanted to write a book where I would like to explain complex terminology and science into layman terminology so people can easily understand what is going on with them. And plus it has to be backed with research. So we have at least more than 180 research articles that are referenced in the book, so people know that what I’m talking about has science behind it, and plus try to for people. And the second thing is that I made this three step protocol for people. So who wants to get better with Hashimoto’s disease? They can start implement that protocol to today itself so they can see changes in their life improve the quality of their life they have.
Dr. Ann-Marie Barter (18:11):
Do you have a little taste of a little bit of the protocols that you could give us just a touch of an overview on to get people a little interested in it?
Dr. Anshul Gupta (18:23):
Absolutely. The protocols is very simple. Again, trying to make things very simple. So very first step is again, trying to help people understand the root cause approach, identifying the root cause, right? So there are five major big categories of root causes that play a role in Hashimoto’s. One of them is food sensitivities. The second one is nutritional deficiencies. The third one is stress. The fourth one is toxins, and the fifth one is infections. Obviously these are big categories in itself, but what I did in the book was that trying to lay down some questions for the people so they can try to answer those questions on their own and identify which root causes categories they might have issues with. Now, the issue over here is that most people are looking for that one category one root cause that create a role. But what people do not understand is that Hashimoto’s, a disease happens because of two plus root causes.
(19:15):
So at least there are between two or three root causes playing a role. So do not stop at the first category where you feel is the right one for you, but look at all the categories. So that’s the first step. The second step is start this healing process, changing your lifestyle, which is more friendly towards Hashimoto’s. So in that aspect, we develop this diet, which is thyroid friendly diet. Again, the concept is very simple, remove foods which are damaging to your thyroid and include foods which is healing for your thyroid. So that’s the concept of this diet that we share in the book or talk about in various places. And then including certain supplements which again have shown in research studies that will be healing for Hashimoto’s disease like selenium, zinc, vitamin D, magnesium, all of those things. So that’s the very second step. The third step is removing the toxicities because each and every one of us get bombarded with toxins.
(20:11):
First toxicity we talk about is stress. Stress kind of basically hijacks the whole thyroid system, and that is one of the major reasons a lot of people get hashimo those overseas. So working on that stress is very important. The second of all is removing the toxicities, which are real like heavy metals, mold, toxins, or other environmental toxins. Again, I do not propose in the book of going on a full-blown detox protocol because for that you need a practitioner to develop the proper detox protocol for you. What I want to talk about is what you call is toxin-free lifestyle, how you can the toxins, how we can find the toxins in our immediate environment that you can get rid of is very important. And then also lowering the toxicities of infections, improving your immunity in the body so your immune system can do the same job it was supposed to do before. So that’s the third step. And this is kind of three simple steps. People if they follow that, we have seen phenomenal results and people can definitely improve their Hashimoto’s disease as well as they can improve their symptoms for sure.
Dr. Ann-Marie Barter (21:18):
Fantastic. Yeah, I mean I have definitely seen the research selenium, some of the research on the thyroid antibodies dropping those. It’s been incredible seeing that in my own practice. Same with vitamin D, you definitely see those thyroid antibodies drop dramatically. It’s pretty neat to see that. So is there anything that I didn’t ask about that’s important to mention?
Dr. Anshul Gupta (21:48):
I think the main important message out here is there is hope for people to get better, right? Because they have been told time. And again, if you get Hashimoto’s disease, that’s the end of the story. You cannot get better. There is no way you can do anything to lower the antibodies. And that is not true. As suggested, there are so many research studies which show so many different things, which can people do today to lower the antibodies, safeguard the thyroid gland, and plus most importantly, that get their life back. Because so many people are struggling with symptoms day in, day out because of Hashimoto’s disease. And you can do things today that can change the whole trajectory, and it doesn’t have to be very long protocols just changing your diet, just changing your stress management, doing exercising, sleeping better, those things are phenomenal. That is where the heavy lifting happens in your life. And if you do those things, that can certainly improve your Hashimoto’s disease.
Dr. Ann-Marie Barter (22:52):
Fantastic. So where can people find your book reversing and find you if they would like to get in touch with you?
Dr. Anshul Gupta (23:02):
So the WIC is available on Amazon, so that’s the best place to order that it’s available on Kindle. People like to read on the digital platform to find me. We do share a lot of great information in all different formats because people learn in all different ways. So we have an active blog. I write research bla blog on my website. So my website is unsu gupta md.com. People who want to read on the blogs, they can go over there. We have a very active YouTube channel, which is again, the handle is unsure Gupta md. And again, we are sharing a lot of great information about, again, what people can do today naturally to help improve their thyroid. And Hashimoto’s. Same thing on Instagram. Also, we are there with an Angel Gupta, md and people want to follow us over there. We share information over there too.
Dr. Ann-Marie Barter (23:51):
Well, fantastic. Thank you so much for being here and sharing such wonderful knowledge and just walking us through.
Dr. Anshul Gupta (24:02):
Absolutely. It was a great pleasure over here. Thank you so much for having me.
Outro (24:08):
Thank you for listening to the Gut Health Reset Podcast. Please make sure you subscribe, leave a rating and a review so more people can hear about the podcast. And hey, take a screenshot of this episode and tag Dr. Ann-Marie on Instagram or Facebook At Dr Ann-Marie Barter. And for more resources, just visit dr annmarie barter.com.