Thyroid hormones help to control metabolism, cell repair, and growth. When the thyroid gland fails to produce enough thyroid hormones, it causes hypothyroidism. People with hypothyroidism may experience hair loss, tiredness, feeling cold, weight gain, and feeling low among other symptoms. Foods alone cannot cure hypothyroidism. But, if a combination of the right nutrients and medication is administered, it can reduce the thyroid symptoms and help restore thyroid function. We are enlisting here the best hypothyroidism diet, including which foods to eat and which to avoid.

Important Nutrients in a Hypothyroidism Diet

1. Iodine

Iodine is needed to produce thyroid hormones. Therefore, people with iodine deficiency are more likely to have hypothyroidism. If you have an iodine deficiency, eat more iodine-rich foods like dairy, fish, seaweed, and eggs.

2. Zinc

Zinc helps the body activate thyroid hormones. Studies also show that zinc may help the body regulate TSH levels. A hypothyroidism diet rich in zinc includes foods like beef, chicken, oysters, and other shellfish.

3. Selenium

Like zinc, selenium also helps activate the thyroid hormones. Its antioxidant properties also protect the thyroid gland from damage caused by free radicals. Eat selenium-rich foods such as sardines, tuna, eggs, and legumes to boost your selenium levels. However, avoid taking selenium supplements unless advised by your doctor.

Harmful Nutrients in a Hypothyroidism Diet

Goitrogen is a harmful nutrient for hypothyroidism. This nutrient prevents the proper functioning of the thyroid gland. Foods containing goitrogens include:

• Nuts and seeds: peanuts, pine nuts, millet, etc.
• Soy foods: edamame, tempeh, tofu, etc.
• Fruits and starchy foods: peaches, sweet potatoes, cassava, strawberries, etc.
• Certain vegetables: spinach, broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, kale, etc.

Foods to Eat

• All meats, including beef, lamb, chicken, etc.
• Fruits: bananas, tomatoes, berries, oranges, etc.
• All seafood, including tuna, salmon, shrimp, etc.
• Whole eggs
• All dairy products, including cheese, milk, yogurt, etc.
• Gluten-free grains and seeds:  buckwheat, chia seeds, rice, quinoa, and flax seeds
• Beverages: water and other non-caffeinated beverages

Foods to Avoid

• All varieties of millet
• Highly processed foods:  cakes, cookies, sausages, burgers, etc.
• Supplements of selenium and iodine unless prescribed by a doctor

Foods to Eat in Moderation

• Soy-based foods: tempeh, tofu, soy milk, edamame beans, etc.
• Certain fruits: pears, strawberries, and peaches
• Beverages: alcohol, green tea, and coffee

Key Takeaways

• Hypothyroidism occurs because of an underactive thyroid gland.
• A combination of the right nutritional profile for hypothyroidism and thyroid medication can help reduce your symptoms and improve your thyroid function.

Sudden, intense chest pain that unexpectedly brings you to your knees – isn’t that how heart attack is shown in movies? In reality, a heart attack can be very subtle, especially in women. If you are experiencing symptoms, it would be a fatal mistake to ignore them. You would need prompt medical attention. Your doctor will ask about your symptoms. To make a diagnosis and draw up a suitable treatment plan, your doctor will consider your age, family history, medical history, overall health, and Cardiac Risk Markers.

What are Cardiac Risk Markers?

The cardiac risk markers profile is usually prescribed for people with a family history of cardiac disease or a high prevalence of cardiac disease at a young age. It helps in the early diagnosis of a cardiac disorder that can help with the overall prognosis.

The cardiac risk markers profile estimates the levels of cardiac risk markers in the body to know how efficiently the heart is functioning. It also measures the lipids in the body. If the lipids are at an abnormal level, it increases your risk of a heart attack or other severe heart conditions.

What Is a Heart Attack?

Your heart needs oxygen to survive and carry out its primary function. When the blood flow that brings oxygen is severely reduced or gets completely cut off due to a blockage, the individual experiences a heart attack.

Risk Factors

The following factors increase the risk of heart attack:

1. Family history of heart diseases
2. Cigarette smoking
3. History of heart problem or a pre-existing heart disease
4. High LDL-C
5. Overweight or obese
6. Not being physically active
7. Unhealthy diet
8. Hypertension
9. If you’re a male of  45 years and above  or a female of 50-55 years or older
10. Prediabetes or diabetes

Causes of Heart Attack

The causes of a heart attack include the following:

When the coronary arteries that supply the heart muscle with blood flow are narrowed because of fat build-up, cholesterol, and other substances, they form a plague. This plague gradually narrows the arteries, causing obstruction of blood flow to the heart muscle. This is called atherosclerosis.

Ischemia is a common cause of blocked coronary arteries. When the heart muscle doesn’t get enough nutrients and oxygen, it causes damage or death to a part of the heart muscle. This leads to a heart attack.

Warning Symptoms of a Heart attack

Learning these signs can help you catch the symptoms early. Some of the early signs you need to watch out for are:

• Chest discomfort is characterized by uncomfortable pressure, fullness, squeezing, or pain.
• Discomfort in the jaw, back, stomach, neck, or one or both arms
• Shortness of breath
• Lightheadedness
• Breaking out in a cold sweat
• Nausea

If you see any of these heart-related symptoms, seek prompt medical attention to prevent permanent heart damage or possibly death.

During the recent pandemic episodes, people are getting more conscious about their immune status and are trying to be healthier. Apart from implementing frequent hand washes and social distancing in their routine practices; people are also getting more anxious to know their immune status. If you are curious to understand how to know your immune status; read on further to know more about it. Experts suggest that individuals, who are often feeling sick, are tired all day long, and are exhibiting other obvious symptoms like frequent cough as well as cold, unusual weight fluctuations, etc, especially during the current pandemic, should opt for laboratory investigations that will determine the presence of particular markers and/or antibody tests for COVID.

Importance of Diagnostic Values

The best answer for how to know your immune status lies in its diagnostic values. Other significant parameters that must be considered before interpretation include determining what is normal and abnormal by comparing the results to reference standards. Standard reference values have been evaluated based on different statistical analyses and the same can be referred for further analysis. Consequently, all diagnostic tests associated with the analysis of one’s immune status rely mainly on the assessment of particular antibodies, identification of abnormalities in T cells functioning, disorders associated with neutrophils; and other complementary deficiencies.

Laboratory Investigation for Humoral Immunity

Today, multiple standard clinical screening tests are available that can accurately detect levels of different antibodies; such as IgG, IgA as well as IgM from the serum. This is particularly applicable if you need to know your immune status to combat COVID infections; multiple tests are available to detect COVID antibodies. Moreover, certain other tests are also available to determine the immunological potency of any individual. These tests have proven to be beneficial in individuals, who have reported multiple recurrent infections. Moreover, the tests are also helpful in understanding the antibody response is in vaccinated individuals.

Assessment of Cellular Immunity

Certain laboratory investigations can assess your current cellular immunity, based on the number of functioning T cells available; often accompanies by other cellular assays. Moreover, presently there are different assays available to assess functional aspects of T cell immunity; and help evaluate many genetic defects associated with weaker immunity and/or autoimmunity.

As a result, diagnostic assays are extremely important in the evaluation of your immune system, which is normally done through random screening, followed by more advanced specialized testing, depending upon the requirements.

Thyrocare offers multiple antibody tests for COVID that one should avail to assess the presence or absence of the  COVID-19 antibodies.

Vitamin D, commonly called the sunshine vitamin is responsible for the absorption of vital elements including Calcium that is an integral component of bone formation. Deficiency of Vitamin D due to low sun exposure or lack of Vitamin D in food leads to various diseases like Osteomalacia, also called the bones softening disease. It is a disorder that leads to weakening, bending, and bone breaking. In children and young adults, it results in bowing especially in bones that bear weight (legs). In older people, it can lead to fractures. Read on further to know about the causes, symptoms, and treatment for Osteomalacia with special reference to vitamin D food.

Causes:

1. Deficiency of Vitamin D:

Osteomalacia is caused mostly due to vitamin D deficiency from food or often from not getting enough exposure to sunlight. The body uses calcium and phosphate to make strong bones. Vitamin D is essential for the absorption of calcium; hence, a defect arises in the bone-maturing process.

2. Surgeries:

Certain stomach surgeries or bypasses result in dysfunction in the breaking down of food to release calcium and other minerals that are further absorbed by the intestine.

3. Liver or Kidney Problems:

Irregular kidney or liver function can result in the inactivation of vitamin D which can result in osteomalacia.

Symptoms:

The symptoms are not very prominent in the early stages; however, as the disease progresses the following symptoms can be observed:

1. Muscle pain and weakness after exercise
2. Bones in the hips, lower back, and feet break off easily
3. Aggravated pain felt in bones and joints
4. Due to low calcium levels, needles and pins can be felt in the hands
5. Problem while walking and frequent muscle cramps

Treatment:

1. Getting Enough Sun Exposure:

The body produces vitamin D when bare skin is exposed to sunlight. 10-15 minutes of daily sun exposure on arms, legs, hands, and other areas without any sunscreen would lead to sufficient vitamin D production in the body, aiding in osteomalacia prevention.

2. Intake of Vitamin D Foods:

If proper sun exposure is difficult in areas that you live, then supplement your diet with vitamin D food such as fortified butter, cereals, and spreads; egg yolk, meat, and oily fish. Additionally, take vitamin D supplements if necessary.

3. Calcium-rich Diet:

Calcium-rich foods like milk, cheese, green leafy vegetables, tofu, soybean, and fish enrich the level of calcium in the body which in turn, helps in rebuilding bones and maintaining bone health.

Sore throat is painful, irritable, scratchy, and causes an itchy sensation while swallowing food. Commonly it is caused due to a viral infection like flu or cold and resolves on its own. However, sometimes it is due to a bacterial infection that needs the attention of a doctor and the administration of antibiotics. Read further to know more about throat infection – symptoms, and treatment.

Sore Throat Infection Symptoms:

The symptoms can vary depending on the cause of the infection, and the age group the person belongs to. Some common signs include:

• Difficulty in swallowing
• Coughing
• Sneezing
• Itchy sensation in the throat
• Swollen glands in the neck or jaw region
• Sore throat
• Tonsils
• Muffled/ hoarse voice
• Runny nose
• Fever
• The painful sensation during swallowing, or drinking

Children suffer from sore throats quite often due to an underdeveloped immune system. They are more prone to viral and bacterial infections. The throat infection symptoms in children are as follows:

10 Symptoms Sore Throat

1. Loss of appetite
2. Swollen and tender lymph nodes in the neck area
3. Swollen tonsils with pus
4. Headache
5. Viral fever
6. Small red spots on the upper region of the mouth
7. Crankiness
8. Nausea
9. Vomiting
10. Abdominal pain

‘Strep throat’ which is quite common in children is caused due to bacterial infection from Streptococcus have the following throat infection symptoms:

• White patches on the throat
• Tender, swollen glands on the neck
• Fever more than 101°F

Epiglottitis, an inflammation-causing throat infection, common in children aged 5-15 has the following symptoms:

• Due to lack of oxygen skin turns blue
• High pitched sound while breathing
• Drooling
• Severe sore throat
• Pain while swallowing and breathing

Adults have the same throat infection – symptoms, and treatment as children, but the occurrence rate in adults is less as compared to kids.

Treatment:

The treatment procedure depends on the cause of the condition.

In the case of a bacterial infection, sore throat treatment requires the administration of an antibiotic to provide immediate relief. In a viral infection, mild pain relievers or acetaminophen might be administered. For serious conditions such as epiglottitis, the person must be kept under medical supervision for proper treatment.

Shedding off the extra pounds from your body is a herculean task. However, weight accounts for muscle mass, fat mass, bone density, and metabolism instead of only fat. So, the aim should be to reduce fat from the body and increase muscle gain. Listed below are a few weight loss tips that might help an individual for achieving the ideal weight.

Losing muscle weight instead of fat can be quite detrimental to health because it is quite unnatural for the body to target muscle instead of fat. Often shortcuts such as crash dieting can lead to a decrease in muscle mass and impact adversely through loss in essential body functions like movement, strength, and endurance.

The best way to identify a decrease in muscle mass is by noticing your reduced strength levels in doing the same number of reps in the gym or feeling sluggish the whole day after exercising. The entire point of exercise and proper nutrition is to make you feel active. However, often lack of a proper diet regime and incorrect training methods leads to a loss in muscle mass.

Few weight loss tips that can help you in losing those extra inches from your body in a healthy way are:

Weight Loss Tips

1. Not Skipping Breakfast: 

Breakfast adds essential nutrients to your diet. It helps you add healthy muscle weight in place of the lost fat in the gym, thereby, resulting in a toned body.

2. Adding Fresh Fruits and Vegetables to the Diet: 

Fruits and vegetables are low in calories but provide the essential vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants required by the body after an intense workout.

3. Eating Regular Meals:

Regular meals are more beneficial to the body as they increase the metabolism of an individual rather than leading to cravings and stuffing fat and sugar-rich food.

4. Increasing Water Intake: 

Plenty of water intake throughout the day reduces the unnecessary craving for junk food. It also helps remove toxins from the body.

5. Being Active Through Exercising: 

Exercising daily even for 15 minutes is a pro-weight loss tip. One can start with brisk walking or jogging and then switch to mid and high-intensity gym training. It is important for healthy muscle gain and losing extra body weight.

While 2 billion people worldwide are overweight, being underweight appears to be a beneficial problem to have in such a situation. However, being too thin or having difficulty gaining weight normally might have major health consequences. Let us focus on a few weight gain ideas for people who want to reach their ideal body weight in a healthy and natural way.

Underweight usually means having a Body Mass Index (BMI) of 18.5, however, the BMI in itself is insufficient to determine whether an individual is underweight or not. BMI considers only the height and weight of a person and excludes the muscle mass. Some people are naturally skinny and might fall under the underweight category but remain healthy.

Still, if you want to add few extra pounds to your weight then some healthy weight gain tips listed below might help you in adding those extra muscle mass to the body.

Things to do for gaining weight

1. High-calorie Intake:

Eating whatever you want is the ideal situation for everybody, still being mindful of quality over quantity is very important to gain weight naturally. Junk food contains high calories but it is filled with salts, sugars, and saturated fats which is harmful to the body. Adding nutritious and calorie-rich foods like dried fruits, nuts, legumes, seeds, avocadoss, and whole-grain foods will help you healthily gain weight.

2. Strength Training:  

Intense bodyweight training in the gym or at home helps immensely in gaining weight. Fundamental weight lifting exercises help in strengthening the muscles and increasing muscle mass.

3. Frequent Meals:

Having more meals throughout the day can help you consume more calories and gain weight. One way to do this is to break large meals into smaller portions and consume them on timely breaks.

4. Shakes and Supplements:

Adding protein shakes and weight-gain supplements to your diet can help immensely in increasing muscle mass as they are specifically formulated and targeted for gaining weight after an intense workout.

5. High Protein Diet:

Muscles are made up of proteins and adding proteins such as legumes, meat, and fish to the diet is essential for healthy weight gain. However, proteins can be filling at times and result in loss of appetite, thereby, reducing your calorie intake, so be mindful in choosing the right diet plan for your weight-gain journey.

Pyelonephritis is a urinary tract bacterial infection that causes inflammation of the kidneys. Acute Pyelonephritis is severe and sudden whereas persistent or recurrent infection results in chronic Pyelonephritis. The condition can be life-threatening. Read further to find out more about urinary tract infection symptoms, treatment.

Urinary tract infection Causes:

Gram-negative bacteria like Escherichia coli, Enterobacter, Proteus, and Klebsiella cause acute pyelonephritis. Most commonly the infection occurs when the bacteria first attaches to the urethral mucosal epithelial cells and then travels up the bladder via the urethra. This happens either through instrumentation or urinary tract infections. It occurs most commonly in women due to hormonal changes, close distance between urethra and anus, as well as the shorter urethra in women as compared to men. Urinary tract infection can also occur due to hematogenous spread. An obstruction to urine flow by kidney stone can result from incomplete urine emptying and multiplying of bacteria; thereby, causing acute Pyelonephritis. Vesicoureteral reflux, a congenital disease that causes urine backflow into kidneys also leads to pyelonephritis.

Diagnosis:

1. Through Urine Testing:

The most common method for detecting a kidney infection is through a urine test. Urinary tract infection symptoms such as fever, pus or blood in the urine, cloudy urine, frequent urination, or fishy-smelling urine are common grounds for undergoing a urine test.

2. Through Imaging Tests:

Doctors recommend ultrasound tests to look for urinary obstructions like cysts, tumors, or kidney stones. If the patient remains unresponsive to treatment within 72 hours then CT scans are carried out.

3. Through Radioactive Imaging:

A health professional performs a DMSA (dimercaptosuccinic acid) test to detect scarring in the kidneys. Radioactive material is injected into the arms intravenously and it detects the scarred areas.

Treatment:

1. Administration of Antibiotics:

The choice of antibiotics depends on the identification of bacteria. Usually, doctors recommend a broad-spectrum antibiotic for treatment, like Ampicillin, Ciprofloxacin, or Levofloxacin.

2. Medical Guidance:

In severe cases, patients may require hospitalization. Intravenous hydration and antibiotics is administered for 24-48 hours depending on the severity and response from patients. Doctors may also monitor the blood and urine levels of the patients.

3. Surgery:

Recurrent urinary tract infection treatment requires surgery to remove the obstruction or correcting structural problems in the kidneys. An abscess is also addressed through surgery if antibiotics don’t work.

Liver Detox

The liver is one of the largest organs of the body and is responsible for a range of functions like regulating hormones, balancing the nutrients, and most importantly filtering out toxins from the bloodstream. Usually, the irregular functioning of the liver goes unnoticed till a person is exposed to a life-threatening liver condition. Hopefully, there are ample ways to keep your liver in a proper healthy state. Read further to know more about how to detox the liver in an individual.

How To Liver Detox

1. Avoid Consumption of Alcohol:

Every how-to detox the liver guide must have no consumption of alcoholic beverages as a go-to principle. Daily consumption of wine, beer, etc. adds extra pressure on the liver for elimination from the bloodstream in the body. This leads to various liver conditions such as fatty liver disease, cirrhosis, and acute alcoholic hepatitis.

2. Maintain a Healthy Liver-friendly Diet:

The inclusion of fibrous foods like whole grains helps in liver function. Enough water intakes and a diet consisting of fruits, vegetables, dairy products, lean protein, and fish also add to the smooth functioning of the liver. Coffee has also been proven to prevent liver cirrhosis and cancer.

3. Avoid Junk Food:

It is a no-brainer that how to liver detoxtips is incomplete without the advice to avoid fast food. Processed foods high in sugar, salt, and fat can adversely affect liver health over a period of time, hence, avoiding consumption of such foods can drastically improve your overall health.

4. Regular Exercise:

Moderate exercise of physical activity like brisk walking, jogging, or cycling can improve liver function by reducing the fat buildup in the organ.

Cardio and other intensive workout regimes can shed off the extra fat from the body and lead to the smooth functioning of the liver. It also reduces the chances of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) in the future.

5. Limit the Use of Medications:

Medicines when consumed under the doctor’s supervision are not harmful. However, excessive use of certain over-the-counter drugs like acetaminophen has an adverse effect on the liver.

Keep a regular track of your liver health by simply booking a liver function test at Thyrocare.