Highlights of the 2015 International Thyroid Congress

Update from the 15th International Thyroid Congress, Orlando Florida, October, 2015
By Gary Pepper, M.D.
Welcome     I just returned from Orlando, Florida, where I attended the 15th International Thyroid Congress and want to provide a report of my experience, to readers of metabolism.com. This was truly an international event with an estimated 50% of the attendees from outside the U.S. Organizers of this event describe it as, “Renowned experts in thyroid function and biology, diagnosis and management of thyroid disease, and novel therapies for treating thyroid cancer are gathering at the 15th International Thyroid Congress (ITC) to present, discuss, and debate the latest advances in thyroidology. Held every five years, the ITC is a collaborative meeting of the four world thyroid associations; the ATA (American Thyroid Association), Asia-Oceania Thyroid Association (AOTA), European Thyroid Association (ETA), and Latin American Thyroid Society (LATS).”
I was particularly excited to be attending this conference this year since my colleagues, Drs. Paul Cassanova and Kathryn Reynolds and I were presenting our study on the use of combination T3 plus T4 for the treatment of underactive thyroid (hypothyroidism).
Here are some papers I found to be of particular interest; (more…)

Tara Struggles with Persistent Symptoms of Hypothyroidism and Her Medical Care

Sad LadyMetabolism.com received this message from one of our readers. Her story seems typical of the sort of dilemma so many people face today. The best advice usually comes from others who face the same problem. It would be helpful to hear what others would do in her situation.

Tara’s message: “I was diagnosed with Grave’s Disease in 2009, I had RAI in 2011, after my daughter turned 3 months. Being pregnant with Severe Grave’s was the scariest thing in my life at the time. I gained weight prior to my pregnancy, during, and after RAI. My family doctor told me no matter how much you ate while severe Hyperthyroid you should have been anorexic, so something else is wrong. ” (more…)

Everyday Metabolism Boosting Foods

Everyday Metabolism Boosting Foods

As most people trying to lose weight know, boosting your metabolism is critical to success. Metabolism is the system controlling the rate of breakdown of food into the necessary nutrients for proper function of the cells of the body.  A slow metabolism will slow down the weight loss process, while having a faster metabolism well increase your body’s weight loss. Thus, you will want to boost metabolism as much as possible within healthy limits. Knowing what foods assist metabolism will be vital in the effort to achieve and maintain a desirable weight.

Carrots

Carbohydrates are usually easy for the body to digest. Fiber however, is a non-digestible form of carbohydrate. The body usually doesn’t recognize the fact that it is non-digestible, and expends energy in an effort to break it down anyway. This will increase the amount of “passive” calories used up in the digestive effort.  Carrots are a double win, being high in fiber and low in calories, a cup of raw carrots containing only 50 calories. According to Kristine Clark, professor and assistant director at Penn State University, because of the small amount of calories going in while a large amount being used up, eating high fiber vegetables such as carrots can result in an increase in metabolism.

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7 Ways to Boost Your Metabolism When Quitting Smoking

7 Ways to Boost Your Metabolism When Quitting Smoking

smoker (1)Gaining weight after quitting smoking is a common and dreaded experience.  Fear of weight gain often discourages people from trying to take the first steps toward giving up the smoking habit. What is the reason for this unwelcome “side-effect”? Perhaps most importantly, smoking raises the heart rate substantially.

While smoking a cigarette, the heart rate increases 10-20 more beats per minute. (This can lead to heart diseases in the future.) This elevated pulse boosts the metabolism because of the energy it takes to keep the body functioning at this high rate. When a smoker quits smoking, the heart rate will return to its normal, natural rate. This will cause a decrease in the metabolism. However, there are several ways to boost your metabolism after smoking cessation  to avoid the weight gain that often occurs.

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What Product Contains 5 Times a Child’s Daily Sugar Allowance?

Poor eating habits are contributing to the rise of type 2 diabetes and obesity in children and adolescents.  One of the major nutritional culprits is the high consumption of sugar contained in soda.  The amount of sugar in soda is astounding.

According to The American Heart Association, sugar intake should be limited to six teaspoons per day for women (equivalent to about 100 calories),   nine teaspoons per day for men (about 150 calories)  and three teaspoons for children (about 60 calories) . There are numerous drinks available on the market  containing as much as 14.6 teaspoons, or 73 grams, of sugar in a 20 oz bottle.  A single 20 oz bottle therefore has almost 5 times the recommended daily sugar allowance for a child,  2-1/2 times the recommended allowance for women and 1-1/2 times the recommended allowance of sugar for men.

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What is Behind the Epidemic of Obesity and Type 2 Diabetes in Children and Teens in the U.S.?

by Gary Pepper, M.D. and Andrew Levine, Pre-med

If you ask the average person to define diabetes, a typical response might be “it’s when you have unhealthy eating habits and an overabundance of sugar in your blood.”  Although that is not far from the truth, a more accurate definition is that diabetes is a disorder in the way our body uses insulin to process digested food for energy and storage. A good part of what we eat is broken down into glucose, the principle form of sugar in the blood. Diabetes occurs when there is not enough insulin to push the glucose into our cells. This deprives the body of the energy it needs because glucose is metabolized as fuel by all the organs in the body. Therefore in diabetes despite an elevated amount of sugar in the blood,  the cells are actually starving for energy.  We sometimes conceive of glucose in the blood as the enemy , but without it we would die. (more…)

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