Bacopa and Thyroid Benefits

This era of modernization and westernization, has ornamented our every problem and query with a precise and subtle solution. Narrowing our talk to the fields of medical and health sciences, we can easily tell the leaps and bounds of success that allopathic medicine has evolved with. It has swept away almost every sphere of pharmacy with its magnificence. But, what gives Ayurveda, the oldest Indian healing technique an edge above the allopathic medicine and treatment? What has made people a tad more inclined towards this natural healing methodology? According to the 1970-WHO report Ayurveda is known to cure a broad spectrum of osteopathy disorders without significant side effects. The fact that allopathic treatment brings with itself a great deal of side effects is consistently making it the lesser preferred of the two options. Moreover Ayurveda is all natural and is beneficial for all age groups whereas allopathic treatment is highly age and gender dependent. Now most of our talk is going to revolve around an emerging ayurvedic drug which is often referred to as waterhyssop or Brahmi, and scientifically coined as Bacopa. It has wide applications in an efficient working of the human body, one among which is curing various Thyroid Disorders.

What is Bacopa?

Bacopa is a broad family of symmetrical, erectile stems with whitish flowers consisting mostly of 5 petals and leaves. The most important species and the one that interests us a great deal is Bacopa Monnieri, which has been in use in Ayurvedic industry for a long time now. It grows mostly in the tropical and the subtropical regions of the world, one of which is The Americas. It has a really wide range of benefits and applications. It positively affects the working of the Central Nervous system and helps recover memory and reduce anxiety. It is known to cure many thyroid disorders like hypothyroidism and hyperthyroidism which will be discussed in detail in the further text. It is used all over the world with different names some of which are Brahmi, Aindri, Lysimachia monnieri L. Cent., Graticola monnieri L.Herpestis monniera L. Kunth., Water hyssop, Thyme-leafed gratiola, Indian Pennywort, Jalabrahmi. Its affects are exponentially amplified when taken along with Ashwagandha (another Ayurvedic drug), Milk, green tea and Dietary fatty acids.

Know your Thyroid Gland

Thyroid gland is one of the smallest glands located in front of the neck, made of two lobes along the trachea or the windpipe and joined by a thyroid tissue called the Isthmus. The very basic function of the thyroid gland it take up Iodine from our food and then convert it into the two Thyroid hormones called the Thyroxine (T3) and Triiodothyronine (T4). Most of the body cells depend upon the thyroid gland for efficient metabolism and functioning. The ratio of the production of T3 and T4 is 2:8 whereas the strength ratio is the opposite. The Thyroid gland is tutored by the Pituitary gland, present right below the brain. The pituitary gland acknowledges the less or more levels of T3 and T4 hormones and stimulates the TSH (Thyroid Stimulating Hormone) to increase or decrease the production of the T3 and T4 hormones respectively. So suppose the T3 level in the blood is less, it signals the TSH to produce more T3 and thereby regulates the balance of hormones in the body or the thyroid gland in this case. The interesting part is that the Pituitary is itself regulated by another master gland known as the Hypothalamus which regulates the formation of TRH (TSH releasing Hormone). It senses the need of TSH in the bloodstream and acts accordingly.

Various Thyroid Disorders

Hypothyroidism is the most prevalent thyroid disorder which as the name suggests is the low activity of the thyroid gland or the Low concentration of the T3, T4 hormones. According to EndocrineWeb, 10 million Americans suffer from hypothyroidism and don’t even know about it. The main causes are the inflammation of the thyroid gland which weakens or renders the thyroid cells completely inactive thereby leading to the low thyroid hormone levels. This condition stimulates the Pituitary to produce more and more TSH which further leads to accumulation of this hormone in the gland leading to another disorder called Goiter. It is characterized by swelling of the neck region. This condition also paces down the complete metabolism of the body because the thyroid gland is largely responsible for the regulation of body metabolism.

Another grave thyroid disorder is called Hyperthyroidism which is completely opposite to Hypothyroidism. It is characterized by hyperactive thyroid gland and over secretion of the thyroid hormones. It paces up the body metabolism and leads to restlessness. It could be due to the Overconsumption of Iodine along with the Food products. Hypothyroidism can be greatly tackled with the help of our showstopper, Bacopa monnieri. Let’s find out how.

Benefits of Bacopa for Thyroid Disorders

  • Initially the experiments for finding out the uses of Bacopa for thyroid disorders were conducted on male mice were done by a group of individuals from a Thyroid research Unit. Samples of Bacopa monnieri, Aloe Vera and Aegle Marmelos were taken. The results suggested that Bacopa significantly increased the T4 level in the blood while the other two increased the T3 level in the bloodstream. The concluding fact is that Bacopa regulates the T4 level in the thyroid and can be used to treat Hypothyroidism. People suffering from it have a low concentration of thyroid hormones and must be medicated such as to increase those concentrations as TSH fails to play its part due to inflammation. Therefore Bacopa dosage of 200mg/kg leaf extract is recommended for treating Hypothyroidism. It increases the T4 level by 41% and solves most of the Problem.
  • Another thyroid disorder that it helps treating is Goiter. The main cause of the Goiter as explained earlier is the accumulation of TSH in the thyroid gland which was produced to regulate the T4 level in the thyroid, but could not. So a dosage of 200mg/kg leaf extract of Bacopa coupled with 150mg/kg of Aloe Vera helps counter Goiter. This dosage increases T4 secretion which relaxes the production and thereby the accumulation of TSH. This cures Goiter and is being replaced by the various allopathic and homeopathy treatments as it is natural, cheap, and herbal.
  • The same dosage coupled with 1000mg/kg of Aegle Marmelos, for 15 days significantly decreases the T3 level in the thyroid gland and can be used by people with severe hyperthyroidism conditions. It brings the Thyroid hormone level down by a staggering 62%  and balances the concentrations of thyroid hormones and thereby preventing this grave hyperactivity disorder.

Bacopa has helped counter many thyroid disorders and contains benefits for thyroid hormone production. No doubt they can be treated and cured with allopathic treatments and homeopathy medication but both of them come along with a long list of side effects. Sheer weight gain and loss, acne, intervention by liver and kidney problems and so many more. Moreover they come with innumerable restriction factors like age, gender and timings. Ayurvedic Bacopa is an evolving treatment for the Thyroid disorders and is Promising. Not only because it is natural, cheap, and herbal but because of the fact that it is really fast and effective.  The only significant disadvantage of Bacopa encountered till now has been its adverse taste. But how do you plan to gain without a minimal amount of Pain? You can’t. Ha-ha.

The normal dosage as available in the packed containers is a 300mg tablet. Plus it is widely available on some of the world’s top grossing online markets such as amazon, E-bay and flip-kart and can be therefore conveniently easily bought with some clicks on your Mobile screen.

Jessica

I created this blog to share my experiences and knowledge. I hope it provides insight and relief to those suffering from similar Thyroid conditions.

2 Comments

  1. Ronke Taylor   •  

    Hi Jessica. Thank you for the wonderful information. Yesterday I discovered that I had low thyroid. I generally use one Bacopa/day (vitamin shoppe 345mg). So this information makes my diagnosis more interesting. Today, I took 2 Bacopas. What do you think?

  2. Barbara Martindale   •  

    Thank you for the informative article. I suffer from hashimoto’s thyroiditis which causes hypothyroidism. I have a bad reaction to any and all thyroid medications and for the past 10 years have suffered from these reactions and continued with hypothyroid symptoms,

    I started taking Bacopa for the effects to the brain,ie memory. After taking 750 mgs of a Bacopa extract containing 50% bacopasides I felt a huge difference in just 1 day..my hypothyroid symptoms were going away. Further research brought me to the study done on rats and your article..I have been taking this bacopa for about 2 weeks and am continuing to improve

    I just had to write my experience so others would know Bacopa taken in the correct form definitely helps with hypothyroid symptoms..

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