3 Ways Coffee Can Heal Your Thyroid and Save Your Life
Written by Tom Brimeyer | Posted in Diet & Nutrition | 27 Comments
In the not so distant past, coffee has been put through the ringer. It’s been called every bad name in the book. Many so-called “health experts” have even gone as far as to label coffee as a highly addictive drug that is equivalent to a number of illegal narcotics.
But now, the “coffee” tables have turned because more and more research is being published supporting the vast protective benefits that coffee has to offer. The truth is that coffee is a nutrient, not a drug like many would have you believe.
To be completely honest, I was never a fan of coffee. I couldn’t stand the taste of it. But when I started to learn the science behind coffee and how it can be used to correct hypothyroidism and restore healthy metabolism, my taste buds quickly changed.
Now, thanks to more recent research, it’s becoming easier to understand the connections between coffee and how it can help heal your thyroid and protect you from a number of thyroid related health problems.
Coffee, Longevity, and Thyroid Function
The health of your thyroid is one of the most important factors when it comes to overall health and longevity.
In simplistic terms, your thyroid controls your cells’ ability to produce energy. When you become hypothyroid, your metabolism slows and your ability to produce energy decreases. When your cells cannot produce enough energy to stay happy, healthy, and sustain life… You develop disease and eventually die.
It’s as simple as that.
This is why anti-aging scientists are discovering that the key to extending life and living longer is to improve thyroid function so that your body can continue to produce the energy it needs to sustain life.
So, what does this have to do with coffee?
The results of the largest coffee study to date were recently published in the New England Journal of Medicine involving more than 400,000 U.S. men and women ages 50 to 71, over a 14 year span of time.
Association of Coffee Drinking with Total and Cause-Specific Mortality
http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa1112010
Conclusions: In this large prospective study, coffee consumption was inversely associated with total and cause-specific mortality.
Not only does this study show that those who drank coffee lived longer, it also shows that the more coffee they drank, the longer they lived.
- Men’s Results: two to three cups of coffee per day decreased risk of death by 10% in men. And each addition cup provided an additional 6% decreased risk.
- Women’s Results: two to three cups of coffee per day decreased risk of death by 13% in women. And each additional cup provided an additional 5% decreased risk.
Based on our understanding of human physiology and longevity, coffee reduces your risk of death by helping your cells produce energy, increasing your metabolism, and therefore improving thyroid function.
However, because of the nature of this study, they were not able to identify the exact mechanisms through which coffee reduces the risk of death and extends life.
Below, we’re going to explore just a few of these exact mechanisms through which coffee can provide amazing benefits for overcoming hypothyroidism, and many of its associated health problems.
1. Coffee Protects You From Thyroid Disease
When it comes to coffee and the health of your thyroid, it doesn’t get any more obvious than this. Coffee has been shown to have a direct effect on the health of your thyroid gland.
Research has shown that coffee drinkers have a significantly lower incidence of both benign and malignant thyroid disease, including thyroid cancer.
Does coffee consumption protect against thyroid disease?
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/2816215
“Statistical analysis revealed a strikingly negative (p less than 0.05) association between benign and malignant thyroid disease and consumption of coffee. After adjustment for possible confounding variables, the association remained statistically significant.”
It is well known that various thyroid diseases including Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis and thyroid cancer are common causes of hypothyroidism today. Using coffee properly to help prevent these diseases is a big step in the right direction.
2.Coffee Protects You From Cancer and Estrogen
Coffee doesn’t only protect you from thyroid cancer. It also protects against a number of other cancers, including breast cancer, which is especially a concern for menopausal women.
Coffee consumption modifies risk of estrogen-receptor negative breast cancer.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21569535
“CONCLUSIONS: A high daily intake of coffee was found to be associated with a statistically significant decrease in ER-negative breast cancer among postmenopausal women.”
Many people don’t know this, but there is a link between hypothyroidism and breast cancer. This is because of the role that estrogen plays in suppressing the thyroid gland, disrupting healthy metabolism, and promoting cancer metabolism and growth.
Coffee has been shown to help support your body’s ability to produce progesterone, the hormone that plays the important role of offsetting the negative effects of estrogen and is essential in signaling your thyroid gland to release healthy amounts of thyroid hormone when needed.
So, it should be no surprise that coffee not only helps to protect you from breast cancer but that it also helps to promote healthy function of the thyroid gland.
3. Coffee Protects You From Liver Dysfunction
Coffee has also been shown to be highly protective of your liver. Below is just one of many studies that show the positive effects that coffee can have on the health of your liver.
Effects of coffee consumption against the development of liver dysfunction
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10680318
“These results suggest that coffee may be protectively against the liver dysfunction in middle-aged Japanese men.”
The health of your liver is very well understood when it comes to proper thyroid function. Your liver plays a major role in regulating your thyroid and converting your inactive T4 thyroid hormone to the active T3 thyroid hormone that your cells need to thrive. Liver dysfunction is a major cause of hypothyroidism today that deserves a lot more attention than it currently gets.
Because coffee can help improve liver function, it can also play an important role in improving your liver’s ability to properly regulate thyroid hormone and improve your overall thyroid function.
When it comes to your thyroid, the health benefits of coffee go much further than what I’ve described above. This is really just scratching the surface of the health benefits associated with coffee.
In a world where stress and disease are lurking around every corner, it’s important to take advantage of every thyroid protective nutrient that you have at your disposal, and coffee is one of the most important ones.
27 Responses to “3 Ways Coffee Can Heal Your Thyroid and Save Your Life”
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Glo
06. Jun, 2012
Is this true for decaf as well as ?Caffine makes my eyelid twitch.
hillary bright
06. Jun, 2012
told my thyroid is low for first time in years at age 62.. getting second result about abnormal ultrasound so it all ties in…. I am a coffee drinker and as others tell me to stop I see there are other opnions to research as well as the thyroid diet which I am now starting…. thank you for info
I am sure all is well.. and diet related etc. results after a few months of diet change will indicate the truth more or less !!
JoAnna Bortz
06. Jun, 2012
I was a coffee drinker for most of my life, then I switched to tea because “caffine” was bad for me (?) after that I had several mini strokes which caused Parkinsons disease and my thyroid became underactive. So if all the abouve is true I should have stayed with the coffee.
Tom Brimeyer
06. Jun, 2012
You have to keep in mind that coffee is just “1” nutrient or “tool” that can be beneficial but coffee alone is not the answer to all thyroid issues, Parkinson’s, etc… That would be like trying to build the space shuttle with just a screwdriver. It might help but you’re not going to finish the job. Human physiology is quite complex and proper nutrition is very important.
jill
06. Jun, 2012
is it coffee, or the caffeine, that is the helpful thing?
Tom Brimeyer
06. Jun, 2012
Caffeine, is part of it but coffee has many more beneficial nutrients including magnesium, vitamin B1, etc.
Barb
06. Jun, 2012
I had my tonsils radiated in the early 60’s so now I have Hoshimoto’s tyhroiditis from radiation. Is coffee going to help this? I have had insomnia in the past so I gave up caffeine though I still drink decaf every day.
Tom Brimeyer
07. Jun, 2012
If used properly, coffee can definitely help but keep in mind that alone it is not the solution. It’s just one tool in the toolbox so to speak. Insomnia has more to do with stress hormones than caffeine.
PAM
07. Jun, 2012
I have been a coffee drinker for years. It is my favorite beverage! I drink a pot daily usually. I was diagnosed with HER2 Positive breast cancer & subsequently had a double mastectomy , chemo and radiation. I still love my coffee ..
Sometimes I feel that it is the only way I can wake up.
My son is being checked for his thyroid. His TSH was 5.49 so I could not get a referral from my PCM . They require double digits for referrals? I am going to self pay the endocrinologist for a more thorough checkup.
Tom Brimeyer
07. Jun, 2012
Definitely check his temps and pulse because 5.49 TSH is still quite high. I’ve yet to see anyone with truly healthy thyroid function based on temps, pulse, and many other markers that was above 2.
Mary J. DAmico
08. Jun, 2012
Thank you for the tip on coffee. I have low thyroid and I am under a doctor’s care. Also, I have previous material that I received from you regarding low thyroid and food.
margie wheeler
08. Jun, 2012
dear Tom, I’ve read your articles on thyroid help, but mine is simply beyond help I think. For 10 years I’ve had Hashimoto’s and take meds-also tried supplements, coconut oil and coffee, good nutrition, etc… I have never been able to get my TSH below 10-at times it has been 105 and most of the time it is around 50=I have no idea what to do and neither does my doctor. PS I did have silicone breast implants for 22 years and removed them 2 years ago-do you think residual silicone could cause this?
Tom Brimeyer
08. Jun, 2012
That’s because you think that your nutrition is good but I would bet your nutrition is far removed from what is actually healthy. Most people who come to me are eating a diet that they’ve been led to believe is healthy but that is extremely thyroid suppressive. Supplements and drugs can’t overcome a poor diet.
Grace Livingston
08. Jun, 2012
What are the possible negative effects of coffee and how much a day does one drink safely of decaf or regular. I usually drink ph. 7.7 alkaline water and the higher alkaline water with coffee and supplements or medicine. What do you think about it?
Tom Brimeyer
09. Jun, 2012
The study mentioned did not address the positive/negative effects of coffee. That’s for a different blog post. However, the study did show that the more coffee you drink, the less your risk of death. It applies only to regular as the caffeine does play an important role.
Pietrus
10. Jun, 2012
Coffee has many positive effects. But we should also remember that many people suffering from hypothyroidism have also problems with their adrenals.
I was a heavy coffee drinker for years until I suddenly realized I couldn’t drink it anymore. Coffee made irritated and light-headed. It took me a long time to find out it was because my adrenals were exhausted (because of my hypothyroidism).
Coffee can actually worsen your adrenal fatigue symptoms. So be careful with it. 🙂
Tom Brimeyer
10. Jun, 2012
Yes, this topic and the right way to drink coffee is discussed in my program but the study mentioned in this post did not account for how people took coffee. Keep in mind that adrenal fatigue is a very misunderstood topic which I do plan on writing about in the future.
T. Binodini devi
10. Jun, 2012
if the coffee is useful for the protection of hypothyoid, liver defunction and cencer. I want to know the mode of making and drinking process of coffee.
Tom Brimeyer
10. Jun, 2012
Maybe I can write another future post regarding the proper way to take coffee because there is a “right” way and a “wrong” way. But the study mentioned here did not account for how the coffee was prepared.
Pam Huffines
10. Jun, 2012
Hi Tom, I am beyond frustrated. My tsh was 3.89 dhea 265 my am cortisol was 8.7. I am fatiqued, hair thining and weigh the most i ever have at 59 years old. 186 lbs of which most was put on in the last 4 years. A wellness center gave me B12 and vit. d shot (vit. d was 20) and My brain worked beautifully for a couple of days and then I developed a face and neck major break out of acne. Horrible break out! I then started on armour and felt good the first 2 days then fatigue again. I went to my internist and she practically yelled at me about taking thyroid med. No one knows why i broke out and i am confused about needing thyroid med. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
Toni
21. Jun, 2012
Is this coffe with ganoderma as healthy as regular coffe for the function of the thyroid.?
Chell Lynn
10. Jul, 2012
Awesome read…. i have went from being hyperthyroid for 13+ years to after RAI i am now a little hypothyroid i take .25 of levothyroid daily (with my morning cup of joe) and i drink 2 or 3 cups a day,but no soda. Coffee is my one and only (bad) habit and now i wont feel bad for it …. thanks !!
Susan
12. Jul, 2012
I have avoided coffee for years and switched to decafe long time ago. . Too many jitters and my blood sugar would drop. But since I have been using balanced coffee suggested by Tom I have had no problems and I am hypothryoid. I just use a few ounces of coffee not a whole cup and 4 ounces of 2% milk with a tbl of gelatin and a little simple syrup. It is delicious! And I use the real stuff now. Thanks Tom. I am on my way to a healthier life, brain, and thyroid.
Susan
12. Jul, 2012
But remember too much coffee is not the answer either!!!!!
Jeanne Murray
21. Jul, 2012
Thank you Tom for all of your research and time. WE all appreciate you. Keep the emails coming. What else can we do!!!?
Jeanne
Dr G.D.RAJA
26. Jul, 2012
Thank you Tom for your suggestion of drinking coffee to improve health.
Stevie Love
21. Nov, 2012
What do you think of the “green coffee bean” in the news right now? People are using it for weight loss, but is it ok for us hypothyroidism sufferers?