Briefly, an extreme low - carb diet can create a glucose deficiency, especially if endurance exercise or infection increases glucose requirements, and glucose deficiency invokes the body's glucose conservation measures, which primarily consist of lower T3 and higher rT3 hormone levels — two hormonal markers
of euthyroid sick syndrome.
Interestingly, a study from the Drug and Alcohol Dependence confirmed the existence
of euthyroid sick syndrome [iii] where alcohol - dependent persons can have low levels of T3, high levels of reverse T3 or rT3, and normal levels of the T4 hormone.
Not exact matches
In interpreting these test results, I think it should be recognized that the various individual issues — such as the iron deficiency anemia, the high anion gap metabolic acidosis, the «
euthyroid sick syndrome» pattern
of low T3 thyroid hormone (see my post «Carbohydrates and the Thyroid,» Aug 24, 2011), and the low cortisol with a disrupted circadian pattern — are probably reflections
of deeper problems caused by malnutrition (starvation
of carbs, protein, and assorted micronutrients) despite excess fat intake (a source
of metabolic stress).
We have written
of the suppression
of T3 thyroid hormone levels which is part
of the body's strategy for conserving glucose in times
of scarcity, and how this is a risk factor for «
euthyroid sick syndrome.»
This is called «nonthyroidal illness
syndrome» or «
euthyroid sick syndrome,» and has no known relationship to the development
of clinical hypothyroidism in dogs.