The thyroid gland is a butterfly-shaped organ located in the base of your neck. The thyroid’s main role in the endocrine system is to regulate your metabolism, which is your body’s ability to break down food and convert it to energy. Food essentially fuels the body, and each of our bodies uses that fuel at different rates.
This is why you often hear about some people having a “fast” metabolism and others having a “slow” metabolism. The thyroid keeps your metabolism under control through the action of thyroid hormone, which it makes by extracting iodine from the blood and incorporating it into thyroid hormones. Thyroid cells are unique in that they are highly specialized to absorb and use iodine. Every other cell depends on the thyroid to manage its metabolism. The two main hormones the thyroid produces and releases are T3 (tri-iodothyronine) and T4 (thyroxine).
There are many diseases and disorders associated with the thyroid. They can develop at any age and can result from a variety of causes—injury, disease, or dietary deficiency, for instance. But in most cases, they can be traced to the following problems:
- Too much or too little thyroid hormone (hyperthyroidism and hypothyroidism, respectively).
- Abnormal thyroid growth
- Nodules or lumps within the thyroid
- Thyroid cancer