There’s a lot more to assessing thyroid health than just blood work. Yes, I think blood work is an important piece, but blood work doesn’t tell us WHY the thyroid is off.

This is why we want to look deeper at things like mineral levels. Why? Because minerals fuel our metabolism and adrenals, which have a huge impact on our ability to make, convert and utilize thyroid hormone properly in the body.

The obvious minerals that help assess thyroid function are calcium (Ca) and potassium (K). On a hair mineral test, we see the thyroid ratio: Ca/K.

Calcium: High levels of calcium bind to iodine receptors and make it difficult for thyroid hormone to bind.

Potassium: Low levels of potassium are present in those with hypothyroidism and can lead to the depletion of other important minerals.

A high Ca/K ratio is a sign of sluggish thyroid, meaning mineral levels indicate your body is having a hard time using thyroid hormone. A low ratio suggests faster thyroid function based on minerals. If you have low minerals overall, it can be hard to get an accurate Ca/K ratio.

Other minerals also impact how our thyroid functions, especially iodine—swipe to see how!

We can also examine how the thyroid is functioning based on your basal body temp (BBT). Is your temperature first thing in the morning consistently above 97.2F? If not, your metabolism might be struggling.

For a full summary, when assessing your thyroid, it’s good to look at:
1. HTMA
2. BBT
3. Full thyroid blood panel (see last slide)
4. Iodine urine test
5. Symptoms

If you’re ready to do your hair mineral analysis, our Master Your Minerals course teaches you how to interpret your hair mineral test and what nutrition, supplement, and lifestyle changes to make based on your results.

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