Selenium is essential to thyroid function

Selenium is essential to thyroid function
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Selenium is key because the thyroid is the organ with the highest amount of selenium per gram of tissue. This micronutrient helps defend against disease, and it also supports the metabolism of thyroid hormones. Foods rich in selenium include Brazil nuts, yellowfin tuna, halibut, sardines, ham, canned shrimp, turkey and liver.

Add selenium to your diet with this tasty sardine, watercress and carrot open sandwich .

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Approaches to thyroid cancer are changing

Approaches to thyroid cancer are changing
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Thyroid cancer diagnoses have tripled in the past three decades, though much of that dramatic rise may have to do with the increased use of thyroid ultrasound, which can detect small thyroid growths they may have been overlooked in the past. A study published in JAMA Otolaryngology: Head & Neck Surgery found that new approaches are needed to avoid over-treating slow-to-develop tumours that would otherwise remain asymptomatic. Doctors are now trying less intensive treatments, meaning that not every patient will be told he or she needs to have the entire gland removed. Small tumours may receive a watch-and-wait approach, with monitoring to see if the tumours will become larger to determine if surgery is necessary.

Thyroid cancer diagnoses appear to be surging

Thyroid cancer diagnoses appear to be surging
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According to The Australian Thyroid Foundation, thyroid cancer is increasing in frequency and is almost always treated successfully (95 per cent can be cured). The most common type is papillary cancer, it represents approximately 70 per cent of all cases and develops from the thyroid’s follicular cells with a tumour forming in one lobe of the gland. “Most of the increase is due to finding small thyroid nodules incidentally on imaging,” says Dr Nasr.

 

Screening for thyroid nodules isn’t always recommended

Screening for thyroid nodules isn’t always recommended
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We’re fortunate enough to live in a time with many different methods of imaging, like CT scans and ultrasound. But that’s where the risk of over diagnosing lies, since, as Dr Nasr has noted, doctors are finding more small nodules (growths). “Once a nodule is found, it needs to be addressed, which may require a biopsy,” he says.

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Source: RD Canada

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