Thyroid diseases, a perplexing subject

Hypothyroidism owing to iodine deficiency is negligible. So what are the reasons for the increase in thyroid diseases…

Earlier, deficiency of iodine was said to be a major cause for hypothyroidism that affected a large part of the population. However, over the past 20-25 years or more, universal iodisation has made available foods fortified with iodine. The question that arises is why there is an increase in such diseases even when the population is not found deficient in iodine.

Hypothyroidism owing to iodine deficiency is almost negligible in the population. But hypothyroidism as an auto-immune disease is now more prominent.

Harish Kumar, endocrinologist, Amrita Institute of Medical Sciences, said a population-based study conducted by the institute three years ago indicated that 16 per cent of the people had abnormal thyroid functioning. Hypothyroidism is more prominent among the thyroid disorders and affects about 11 per cent of the population. It is also more visible among women — about 9 out of 10 people affected are women.

Increasingly, women around 40 years and above are found to be more affected by hypothyroidism. About one in five women stand the chance of being affected by it

One of the reasons could be that more cases were getting detected now than earlier, Sunny Orathel, assistant professor, Government Medical College, Kalamassery, said.

Any ‘wild symptom’ was now checked for thyroid diseases, P. Jayaprakash, endocrinologist at Medical Trust Hospital, said. However, though the detection of the auto-immune disorder could be increasing, factors such as environment and pollution also needed to be probed, he said.

Small variations do not affect a person’s metabolism much unless they are young children or women who are pregnant. The lowered production of thyroxine is easily replaced through external supplement. But, people often worry whether eating any specific vegetable like cabbage or cauliflower will affect those who have hypothyroidism. Endocrinologists believe that while some vegetables are construed as goitrogens — that could add to the swelling of goitre, a typical symptom of hypothyroidism — consuming these vegetables as in Indian food habits does little harm.

(Reporting by Shyama Rajagopal)