Thyroid Function and Reproduction

Thyroid function is crucial for all physiological processes in our bodies. Reproductive function is no different. During fetal development, thyroid hormone is a growth hormone. Remember, it is the first hormone-producing gland that develops in the fetus. It stimulates the development of the neural tube and spinal cord—the beginning of the brain. Reproductive function. It doesn't start in adolescence; it begins in the fetus. As mammals, we are born with the potential for reproduction. We don't have to reproduce, but we need everything for the eventual possibility of reproduction to ensure that everything comes out right—viable and healthy. The body has numerous safeguards to switch off this possibility in situations where reproduction may not benefit both the parent and the fetus, in cases such as malnutrition, stress, toxicity, etc. Future reproduction begins in the fetus. Males and females are born with gonads that have to develop appropriately to conceive in the future. T3, the active thyroid hormone, functions as a growth hormone. It regulates the formation of the testes and ovaries. Suppose the mother is hypothyroid and the fetus's thyroid does not form correctly or is not big enough, or the mother's blood circulation in the placenta does not provide enough T3 for the fetus. In that case, babies will have low fetal thyroid hormone levels. Female babies may have smaller ovaries, smaller follicles, and improperly formed uteri and vaginas. The male fetus may have smaller testes and delayed accessory organs, like the prostate gland. The gonads in fetal hypothyroidism are deficient in cholesterol, which is necessary for steroid hormone synthesis. All of these physical malformations normalize with raised thyroid hormone levels. As children reach pubescence, thyroid hormone levels are again crucial for proper sexual maturation.

The formation of breasts and the enlargement of the penis are examples. In females, menstruation may come too early with or without milky nipple discharge. In both sexes, thyroid hormone controls all hormone signaling. A low level can cause menstrual problems—too little, too much, irregular, or none. Ovaries can become atrophic or cystic. Low T3 will reduce the formation of corpora lutea during the luteal cycle, which means less progesterone. Endometriosis and muscle atrophy can occur in the uterus. It may not cause sterility, but it will interfere with gestation, especially in the first and second trimesters of pregnancy, causing stillbirths and miscarriages. In both sexes, steroid hormone synthesis will be irregular. The rate at which hormones convert along the steroid hormone cascade will be affected because T3 hormone regulates this.

Low thyroid hormone can cause polycystic ovary disease in women because they will have a lower rate of metabolizing estrogens. It can cause high estrogen levels in men because they will have a lower rate of metabolizing testosterone. It can also reduce the rate of sex hormone-binding globulin. This protein attaches to estrogen and testosterone and carries it around in the bloodstream, so in men with low testosterone levels and lower estradiol in women. Low thyroid hormone also causes a blunted response to luteinizing hormone in men and women, further complicating fertility. Both sexes can have abnormally high prolactin levels, causing infertility and low libido in women and low sex drive, impotence, and erectile dysfunction in men.

Why is low thyroid function detrimental to fertility? Reproductive capacity is the potential to make another life. That life's ability to function optimally when it is born is crucial. There are plenty of safeguards during DNA replication to make sure replication stops if proteins are damaged. The thyroid gland is doing the same thing. Thyroid hormone is a growth hormone. The thyroid will stop production if there is not enough potential for healthy growth, which causes infertility. Females need more thyroid hormone for reproductive health. They have more organs involved in the reproductive process. An adolescent female's body undergoes more structural changes than a teenage male's. These changes require more growth and more thyroid hormones.

What does the thyroid need to make all of these changes? It needs animal protein and animal fat. But get this: globally, adolescent females receive less adequate nutrition than males. Since the invention of agriculture, boys and men have always eaten more meat, exactly when girls need it most—when they start menstruating instead of receiving excellent animal protein. When they begin menstruating, girls are often ostracized by society, kept outside the village in huts, shunned and kept in separate rooms in families, and made to feel dirty. When I was a teenager, going to buy pads or Tampax was an ordeal because of the ridicule it could bring.

The idea that more young women become vegan in Western society because they care more about animals is convenient. Women have always gotten less meat. Society just figured out a way to make it look nicer. To make it look as if it was their choice. We are raised to believe strong and muscular women are unattractive, so they won't get a mate to enable them to have children. When they start menstruating, teenage girls begin to starve themselves or exercise enough to cause starvation. If they don't eat meat, their thyroids do not function well, so their reproductive health falters.