Dr. Westin Childs Podcast: Thyroid | Weight Loss | Hormones

This is lesson #9 in my thyroid beginner series and today it's all about NDT or natural desiccated thyroid! So what is NDT? Stands for Natural Desiccated Thyroid. This thyroid medication is porcine-derived which means it comes from the thyroid gland of pigs. It contains both the active T3 thyroid hormone and the inactive thyroid hormone T4. The ratio of T4 to T3 is around 76% T4 to 23% T3 which is roughly similar to the same amount that your thyroid gland produces naturally of 80:20. NDT is felt to be safer and more natural than other synthetic hormones such as Synthroid or Levothyroxine and other people believe it's the best thyroid medication. But is that actually true? There may be some truth to it, but your main goal should be to always find the best thyroid medication for YOU. Some of the problems with NDT include: - Many people take too much thyroid hormone which may cause issues - Dosing is static which means you can’t tweak the T4 and T3 concentrations. - May lead to variations in free T3