We’re not talking about insulin, which of course plays a major role with type 2 diabetes.
No, the hormone (or should be say the lack of this hormone) is usually not discussed in association with type 2 diabetes.
The scary thing is that even if you are just slightly deprived of this hormone – even if it measures normal – it can have devastating effects on your type 2 diabetes.
In April 2016, Dutch researcher Layal Chaker and his team presented a paper at the Endocrine Society’s annual meeting in Boston that reported the results of a study of 8,452 people with a minimum age of 45.
Over eight years, participants were given blood tests to measure glucose (blood sugar), blood tests to measure thyroid function, and regular medical examinations to assess the possible development of type 2 diabetes.
The result?
Those who developed type 2 diabetes were much more likely to have low levels of thyroid hormone in their blood, indicating some level of hypothyroidism.
Considering this point from the other direction, people with low thyroid were more likely to develop type 2 diabetes than their peers were.
Their second significant finding was that those with prediabetes and low thyroid hormone were especially at risk. Prediabetes is a condition characterized by low insulin sensitivity and permanent moderately high glucose levels, but not yet complete insulin resistance.
Finally, and most surprisingly, the statistics showed that the participants’ thyroid hormone levels did not even have to be particularly low to increase their risk of developing type 2 diabetes. Levels on the low side of normal were damaging enough.
Therefore it’s essential you have your thyroid level checked every doctors visit and if it’s low, even if your doctor considers it okay, try to adopt diet that boosts its function.