The thyroid is one of the most important regulators of your metabolism. It has a role in not only how many calories and fat you burn, but over regulating the rate of protein synthesis. When your thyroid slows down during dieting, it is one cause behind the fat loss plateau.

Thyroid boosting supplements

Here are some common supplements found that can help boost your thyroid levels. These would be especially ideal to take to get through a fat loss plateau.

Ephedra / Ephedrine Ephedrine or it’s natural herbal supplement form Ephedra, are stimulants and increase your metabolism by stimulating the thyroid. It also plays a important additional role in fat burning, through it’s action on beta receptors on fat cells. It does this by increasing adrenaline and nor-adrenaline (called beta agonists because they bind to beta receptors on the fat cells.). Ephedrine also can act like a beta agonist itself. This action on the beta agonists cells leads to increased cAMP production, which increases enzymes that directly cause fat breakdown.

Gugglesterones: This natural extract found from an Indian Tree, shows in studies that it may help increase the conversion of T4 to T3 in the liver and kidneys. T3 is much more potent and is the main form of circulating thyroid.

Forskolin: Derived from the plant Coleus forskohlii, it has been used medicinally for centuries. This supplement isn’t talked too much in the bodybuilding community, but it is severely underrated. Studies have shown it plays a direct role in stimulating cyclic adenosine monophosphate (cAMP). cAMP as said earlier, is produced after ephedrine stimulates the beta receptors. Stimulating cAMP increases thyroid levels, insuline levels, and fat breakdown in the cell.

Synephrine Similiar to structure as Ephedra, but a weaker stimulant, it can also boost your thyroid and fat breakdown through stimulating the beta receptors.

Caffeine Caffeine is a stimulant and also slows the breakdown of cAMP. By keeping cAMP at high levels, it leads to more direct fat loss and increased thyroid function. It is also breaks down in the liver into a compound that increases the increases the amount of circulating fatty acids in the blood, allowing more fat to be burned for energy. Caffeine by itself according to studies, doesn’t seem to be too potent a fat burner for those who ingest it regularly already. It is commonly stacked with Ephedra or Synhephrine, to make the stack more potent because of caffeine’s role on cAMP levels.