A popular thyroid medication taken by 23 million Americans may be associated with bone loss, a startling new study finds.
Levothyroxine — marketed under brand names such as Synthroid — is the second-most commonly prescribed medication among older adults in the US. It’s consumed by about 7% of the US population.
The drug addresses hypothyroidism, also known as an underactive thyroid, by replacing or providing more of a thyroid hormone naturally produced by the body.
The study authors, from Johns Hopkins Medicine, linked levothyroxine use to a greater loss of bone mass and bone density over six years — even in older adults with normal thyroid function.
The preliminary research compared the bone health of 81 levothyroxine users and 364 nonusers, who were mostly in their early 70s.
“Our study suggests that even when following current guidelines, levothyroxine use appears to be associated with greater bone loss in older adults,” said Dr. Shadpour Demehri, co-senior study author and professor of radiology at Johns Hopkins.
For their part, the makers of Synthroid acknowledge that taking too much levothyroxine can lead to increased bone loss — especially in postmenopausal women.
The loss of bone mineral density and bone mass is called osteoporosis, a disease that affects an estimated 10 million Americans 50 and older.
Bones become weak and more likely to break. With osteoporosis, it can be difficult to move around and recover from broken bones. Severe fractures can lead to life-threatening complications.
Hypothyroidism can also lead to serious and potentially fatal complications if left untreated. Around 30 million Americans are believed to have the condition, which is often characterized by fatigue, weight gain and/or hair loss.
The study authors are unsure why some patients initially received prescriptions for levothyroxine — and why they are still taking it.
“Data indicates that a significant proportion of thyroid hormone prescriptions may be given to older adults without hypothyroidism, raising concerns about subsequent relative excess of thyroid hormone even when treatment is targeted to reference range goals,” said Dr. Elena Ghotbi, the study’s lead author and a postdoctoral research fellow at Johns Hopkins.
The findings will be presented next week at the annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America.
In the meantime, adults taking levothyroxine should discuss the drug with their doctor, weighing positives of the treatment against possible bone loss and other potential adverse effects.
It’s best to stay away from pharmaceuticals of any kind, as well as all vaccines. Hardly anyone needs any of them. I recently saw an interview with Dr. Bryan Ardis where he showed that reducing or eliminating salt to prevent heart attacks and strokes, is foolish. Whenever a person has a heart attack or stroke, the first thing the first responders do is hook them up to an IV Saline bag, yes, SALINE or SALT. The amount they give is enormous, and that is to TREAT the stroke or heart attack! That’s only one example. We’ve been snookered folks!
I’ve seen reason to believe thyroids and peneal glands are aversely affected by flouride in our water, toothpaste, and mouthwash. If true, add the fact that most mature Americans can be deficient in magnesium, potasium, and iodine.
Let RFK Jr figure it out. I hope he makes several changes benefiting health of Americans.
I’ve been recently diagnosed with hypothyroidism as well as other ailments. I have to get a blood test soon to see how severe it is now as well as for what type of arthritis. Not looking foward to take anything that might make it worse or interact with other meds I’m on right now. So frustrating. Hope better medicine comes out when RFKjr is in charge
Great! I’ve been on that shit for 6-8 years! My doctors never told me about bone loss? You can’t trust doctors today.
Drs are taught in med schools to direct their patients to a drug at every turn, not to do any selfcare. We live in a society that expects every thing to be done for us instead of taking care of it themselves, including taking drugs instead of being healthy. Being healthy is not taking drugs, especially when you are altering something in your system that will not come to light until years later, which is always the case. Big pharmaceutical is wealthy and controls the politicians and the agenda, able to produce a drug for literally every problem out there. If you want to be healthy, drugs and vaccines are not the answer. Exercise and eat healthy is not that hard. It’s time to stop being fat and lazy. Sorry lizzo.
I refused statins for 20 yrs, for high Cholesterol, then when I got type 2 diabetes, I went on the Paleo Diet, + in 2 wks, Id lost 8 kgs, + my high BP, Cholesterol + type 2 were ALL GONE, 3 mths later Id lost 18 kgs, I lived on chicken stew for 18 mths.
I’ve been on it for almost 20 years. I had the test done for osteoporosis and found out it’s in stage 2.
In 2012, I found out , by 2nd opinion, I had stage 2 thyroid cancer. So had it removed.
Since then, I’ve talked to my doctor about changing meds. So, far, no change. Now this!
Time to sue!