A recent study shows household multi-surface disinfectant cleaners do more than kill germs. These toxic products also kill your healthy gut bacteria and even promote obesity in children. When you have Hashimoto’s low thyroid it’s important to focus on supporting a healthy gut microbiome to help balance your immune system and prevent autoimmune thyroid attacks.

Our gut microbiome is made up of several pounds of gut bacteria. The composition of these bacteria have a powerful influence on our overall health, including our autoimmune conditions and thyroid health. In fact, healthy gut bacteria are necessary to convert 20 percent of inactive T4 to T3 so your thyroid can function properly.

Your gut microbiome composition determines your immune balance, personality and behavior, brain health and function, and your tendency toward obesity and blood sugar issues. Researchers are increasingly discovering a link between our gut microbiome and obesity. In addition to an unmanaged Hashimoto’s low thyroid condition, this helps explain why some people can never seem to lose weight or keep it off despite doing everything right.

As an example, a Caesarian birth versus a vaginal birth, being bottle fed versus breast fed, and frequent childhood antibiotic use have all been found to significantly increase the risk of obesity in childhood and as an adult.

Studies on mice and humans further support this. They show that inoculating obese subjects with the bacteria of thin subjects leads to quick weight loss. Additionally, inoculating thin mice with bacteria from fat mice leads to quick weight gain.

Now, new research shows multi-surface cleaning disinfectants promote obesity through their effects on the microbiome. Children who grew up in homes where these products were used regularly showed higher rates of obesity by age three.

The study, which was performed in Canada, showed that by the age of three, children raised in homes where household disinfectant cleaning products were used twice a week or more were more overweight than children in homes that used eco-cleaners or detergents that did not have the bacteria killing ingredients.

Scientists founds higher levels of Lachnospiraceae in the children from homes regularly using disinfectants. In animal studies, higher levels of Lachnospiraceae has been linked to increased body fat and insulin resistance. Insulin resistance is a precursor to type 2 diabetes.

Stool samples from the infants and children in the study showed those in homes using eco-cleaners or detergents free of the bacteria-killing ingredients had lower levels of Lachnospiraceae.

Researchers say our lifelong gut microbiome is largely determined by age three, so this study illustrates the impact the home environment can have on the gut.

Although more work needs to be done in this arena, such as examining the diets of the study subjects, animal studies have produced similar results.

Can you change your gut microbiome signature?

Although our gut microbiome signature is largely in place by age three to determine our lifelong health, it is not forged in stone.

As a matter of fact, researchers now call the gut microbiome a dynamic organ because it can change composition in as little as three days. Your diet profoundly influences your gut bacteria composition.

To promote a healthy gut microbiome that favors fat burning over fat storage, good immunity, healthy Hashimto’s low thyroid management, and optimal brain function, do the following:

• Eat a large and diverse array of produce, mainly vegetables, at every meal.
• Eat many different kinds of produce as you can on a regular basis. Gut bacteria health is based on diversity, which is created by a diverse produce-based diet.
• Get regular exercise, something else that actually promotes healthy gut bacteria.
• Keep your environment and diet free of environmental chemicals as much as possible
• Consume fermented and cultured foods and drinks, such as kefir water, kimchi, and sauerkraut on a regular basis.

Ask my office for more ways to promote a healthy gut microbiome.

How to learn if you have Hashimoto’s low thyroid

Many patients are not diagnosed with hypothyroidism or Hashimoto’s until after several years and going through several doctors. It is a demoralizing journey richly illustrated in my book The Truth About Low Thyroid: Stories of Hope and Healing for Those Suffering With Hashimoto’s Low Thyroid Disease, through real-life stories from patients in my practice. Managing Hashimoto’s goes far beyond using thyroid medication as you must work to stop the immune system from attacking the thyroid. For more information on identifying and managing Hashimoto’s low thyroid, contact my office.

About Dr. Josh Redd, Chiropractic Physician — Utah, Nevada, Arizona, Idaho, and New Mexico functional medicine

Dr. Joshua J. Redd, DC, MS, DABFM, DAAIM, author of The Truth About Low Thyroid: Stories of Hope and Healing for Those Suffering With Hashimoto’s Low Thyroid Disease, is a chiropractic physician and the founder of RedRiver Health and Wellness Center with practices in Utah, Arizona, and New Mexico. He sees patients from around the world who suffer from challenging thyroid disorders, Hashimoto’s disease, and other autoimmune conditions. In addition to his chiropractic degree, Dr. Redd has a BS in Health and Wellness, a BS in Anatomy, and a MS in Human Nutrition and Functional Medicine.  He speaks across the nation, teaching physicians about functional blood chemistry, low thyroid, Hashimoto’s, and autoimmunity. You can join his Facebook page here.