Synthroid (levothyroxine sodium), as the name implies, is NOT natural, is NOT bio-equivalent to the hormone thyroxine (T4) produced by the human thyroid, but rather is a SYNTHETIC hormone-like substance with radically different structural (see image below) and functional properties.
Hormones, like all biomolecules, obey a fundamental structure-function complementarity, i.e. form and function are inseparably connected. As you can see from the chemical skeletons above, the two substances are NOT identical. The glaring differences in their respective chemical/molecular make-ups will simultaneously reflect functional/behavioral differences. Not a single cell in the human body can be "tricked" into considering them bio-equivalent, even if the conventional medical establishment reiterates endlessly the manufacturer's marketing claims that they are treated identically by the human body. (Sadly, MEDLINE PLUS, a service of the U.S. National Library of Medicine and The National Institutes of Health convey that they are not different here).
It doesn't take a Ph.D in pharmacology or biochemistry to understand that when you force a genetically-modified form of E. Coli bacteria to secrete a human-like hormone, subtle (if not also not so subtle) differences will emerge. It also doesn't take a whole lot of intelligence to figure out that IF the pharmaceutical industry created a thyroid drug truly IDENTICAL to the natural hormone it is designed to replace, it would not be able to lay claim to a proprietary, patentable and thereby profitable product, i.e. there really is no reward in reproducing exactly the good works of God/Nature.
And yet the problem with creating synthetic, tinkered-with analogues of natural substances is that they almost invariably come with a set of monstrous unintended consequences. Indeed, research published in 2010 in the Archives of Pharmaceutical Research shows that levothyroxine preparations are widely contaminated with a "mirror image" stereoiosmer called dextro-thyroxine at a level as high as 1-6% by dry weight. D-thyroxine violates the left-handed "chirality" of natural thyroxine and is a powerful, cardiotoxic endocrine disruptor. This may explain why so many patients who have had their TSH levels suppressed (i.e. "normalized) with synthetic T4 feel like the shit their drugs were grown in (E.Coli).
"Lack of Synthroid" is NOT the cause of any thyroid problem. Poisoning, common food intolerances (e.g. wheat/dairy), adrenal fatigue and nutrient deficiency are the cause of "hypothyroidism" in the vast majority of cases, so let's get back to the work of figuring out how to address the problem naturally. Below is research I have been collecting on the topic of hypothyroidism from a naturopathic perspective. Take close note of the 33 problem substances listed below, as it is vitally important that people understand "being poisoned" (and resultant nutrient depletions) is likely a major contributing factor to suboptimal thyroid function. Remove the cause, as they say, and you have the cure!
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, as the name implies, is NOT natural, is NOT bio-equivalent to the hormone thyroxine (T4) produced by the human thyroid, but rather is a SYNTHETIC hormone-like substance with radically different structural (see image below) and functional properties.){kind=link}
Synthroid vs.thyroxine
I read, with interest your comments about the structural difference between "Synthroid" and naturally-occurring thyroxine. I was intrigued by your comment: "As you can see from the chemical skeletons above, the two substances are NOT identical." What I could see was that you displayed the two molecules using different conventions for illustrating organic molecules. (see http://www.chemguide.co.uk/basicorg/conventions/draw.html#top ) That made them look different, just as my message would look different if it were in a different font, even if the message, and all the letters were the same. Correcting for the different structural formulae, it is readily apparent that the two molecules you depicted, in fact, are identical. The presence of sodium (Na+) in place of an H (H+) ( COONa vs. COOH) is what would be expected in vivo, at physiological pH. ...yet you carried on about how one website's "claim" that the molecules were identical implied that they were influenced by/in bed with the pharmaceutical industry, which deliberately synthesized a different molecule so that it could be patented. You go on to mention some interesting points, such as contamination with dextro-thyroxine, and the issue of "poisoning", etc. underlying thyroid insufficiency. Those points make sense intuitively, though they are somewhat suspect, now, since you lost all credibility through your naive rant about the molecular formulae. I am not an apologist for Big Pharma. Quite the contrary. I pay you because I am on your side, and support your viewpoint. I am writing this because I would like your message to be credible. I would like to be able to refer people to your site and your work as a useful and credible resource. I can't do that if you write crap like this. I'm really disappointed. I will read what you post much more carefully and skeptically now. If you can show me some evidence that the structure of Synthroid is different from endogenous thyroxine, I would be very interested. Otherwise, familiarize yourself with organic chemistry structural formulae before you launch into an hysterical diatribe like this again. Michael J. Pierce MD Glastonbury, CTPost new comment