Does selenium pill help hypothyroid patients feel better?
Selenium supplementation and placebo are equally effective in improving quality of life in patients with hypothyroidism
Not medical advice. For informational purposes only. Always consult a healthcare professional. Terms
Surprising Findings
Selenium lowered TPOAb levels by 19%, yet had zero impact on quality of life, hormone balance, or medication needs.
Prior meta-analyses suggested selenium might improve symptoms; this large, rigorous trial proves the antibody drop is biologically irrelevant to how patients feel.
Practical Takeaways
Don’t spend money on selenium supplements if you’re taking levothyroxine for autoimmune hypothyroidism—your symptoms won’t improve.
Not medical advice. For informational purposes only. Always consult a healthcare professional. Terms
Surprising Findings
Selenium lowered TPOAb levels by 19%, yet had zero impact on quality of life, hormone balance, or medication needs.
Prior meta-analyses suggested selenium might improve symptoms; this large, rigorous trial proves the antibody drop is biologically irrelevant to how patients feel.
Practical Takeaways
Don’t spend money on selenium supplements if you’re taking levothyroxine for autoimmune hypothyroidism—your symptoms won’t improve.
Publication
Journal
European Thyroid Journal
Year
2024
Authors
Camilla Bøgelund Larsen, K. Winther, P. Cramon, Å. Rasmussen, Ulla Feldt-Rasmussen, Nils Knudsen, J. Bjorner, L. Schomburg, K. Demircan, T. Chillon, Jeppe Gram, S. Hansen, F. Brandt, Birte Nygaard, T. Watt, Laszlo Hegedüs, S. Bonnema
Related Content
Claims (6)
Taking selenium supplements daily for a year does not lower the amount of levothyroxine that adults with autoimmune hypothyroidism need to take to manage their thyroid hormone levels.
Taking 200 micrograms of selenium daily for a year does not improve how people with autoimmune hypothyroidism feel on a standardized quality-of-life survey, even though their thyroid antibody levels decrease.
In people with autoimmune hypothyroidism taking levothyroxine, taking 200 micrograms of selenium daily for a year may lower levels of thyroid peroxidase antibodies by about 19% compared to a placebo, but it does not change the required dose of thyroid hormone or the balance between free triiodothyronine and free thyroxine.
Taking 200 micrograms of selenium daily for a year raises selenium levels in the blood of adults with autoimmune hypothyroidism who are on levothyroxine, but it does not change how efficiently the body converts thyroxine into triiodothyronine.
In adults with autoimmune hypothyroidism, quality of life improved over 12 months whether they took selenium or a placebo, suggesting the improvement was not due to selenium but possibly to other factors like expectation or natural changes in the condition.