Is there a relationship between a copper deficiency and hypothyroid symptoms? What about zinc, iodine, or selenium? The answer is yes, trace mineral levels and thyroid and other hormone symptoms are related! Let’s dive into that connection. 

Trace Minerals & Hormones: Copper, Zinc, & Iodine Deficiency

Do you wonder how copper, zinc, and iodine affect your hormones, like your thyroid? These minerals are key for keeping your hormones balanced and your thyroid healthy.

If you have a copper deficiency it can contribute to hypothyroid or hypothyroid like symptoms, for example.  The same can be true for zinc, iodine, and selenium.

Read on to learn more about the trace mineral and hormone connection and what you can do to optimize your trace mineral levels.

Key Takeaways:

• Trace minerals like copper, zinc, selenium and iodine are vital for hormonal health and thyroid function.
• Deficiencies in these minerals can disrupt hormone production and contribute to thyroid gland disorders.
• Copper deficiency can lead to hypothyroidism and/or hypothyroid physical symptoms like fatigue and weight gain.
• Zinc is essential for thyroid hormone metabolism and deficiency can impair hormone synthesis.
• Iodine deficiency is a leading cause of thyroid problems and can be addressed through adequate iodine intake.
• Seleinum deficiency can lead to an underactive thyroid, and affect female hormone balance.

Understanding Trace Minerals and Their Role in Hormonal Health

Trace minerals are key for keeping our hormones in check and our body running smoothly. These minerals, like copper, zinc, selenium and iodine, are just needed in small doses. But they do a big job in making sure our hormones can function and be properly used by our bodies. Knowing about these minerals is key to spotting and fixing shortages (i/e deficiencies) that can mess up our hormones.

Essential trace minerals are like helpers and triggers for certain body reactions. They aid in making, changing, and moving hormones. This makes sure our body’s hormone system runs well.  They are called “essential” because they are just that- essential and necessary to have healthy immune, hormone and metoblic systems.

Copper helps out a lot with making and using hormones like estrogen and progesterone. It also teams up in making enzymes that help with hormones.

Zinc is important too. It helps make and send out hormones like insulin.  It helps our thyroid make its active hormone.  Zinc also helps keep our gut linings healthy and boosts our immune systems.

Iodine is super important for making thyroid hormones, which boost our metabolism and help other hormones like cortisol, estrogen, and progesterone be balanced.

Lacking these minerals can mess with our hormones and cause health issues, which we will go over in more detail in this blog.

For instance, not having enough copper can lead to an underactive thyroid or even to anemia. Short on zinc? Your thyroid hormone levels may drop, causing fertility and low sex drive.

It’s important to check your mineral levels and fix any mineral shortages.  Aim for a balanced diet that is rich in minerals. Supplements can also help if needed.

Signs and Symptoms of Copper Deficiency and Hypothyroid

The symptoms of not enough copper can be confused with low thyroid, or hypothyroid, symptoms.

Physical Symptoms of Copper Deficiency

Too little copper shows itself in many ways.  Some of these symptoms are very similar to being hypothyroid. The shared symptoms include:

• Fatigue
• Weakness
• Cold intolerance
• Weight gain
• Dry skin
• Brittle hair and nails
• Pale skin
• Hair Loss

These signs may point to copper issues, either directly from a copper deficiency or because of the copper deficiency can impair your thyroid function.  Checking these via bloodwork, along with thyroid hormone, can help to determine if you are experiencing none, either, or both.

Keep reading to learn more about testing for trace mineral deficiencies.  Here’s a great blog on checking thyroid and female hormone labs and interpreting them with your provider. 

Link Between Copper Levels and Thyroid Function

Copper and the thyroid hormones are tightly linked as noted above. Copper helps thyroid hormone production and movement around the body.

Studies suggest that copper deficiency is linked to less thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH). This can lead to hypothyroidism.  Adequate levels of copper are also needed to help the body turn inactive thyroid hormone (T4) into active thyroid hormone (T3).

Copper also helps make thyroid peroxidase, an enzyme needed for thyroid hormone production.  This enzyme adds iodine (which we’ll talk about below) to thyroglobulin, which also helps thyroid hormone synthesis.

High Copper Levels and Estrogen

Conversely, high copper levels, though not common, are linked to estrogen dominance. Estrogen dominance is a phase in perimenopause, but it can happen at other times in a woman’s reproductive years.

The Estrogen-Dominant state exists when estrogen spikes and/or the gap between estrogen and progesterone is big. It can cause symptoms like brain fog, headaches, irritability, heavy periods, insomnia, depression, breakouts, and more. Check out this blog to learn all about estrogen dominance.

Copper-rich foods

Eating a balance of copper-rich foods if you are deficient, or avoiding them if you are high in copper, can help your hormones depending on which condition exists.

Here are some copper-rich foods:

• Shellfish
• Oysters
• Organ meats like liver
• Green leafy veggies like spinach, collard greens, kale, turnips, and mustard greens, as well as dark green lettuce varieties
• Cocoa/Dark Chocolate
• Black Pepper
• Nuts and seeds
• Shiitake Mushrooms
• Lobster

Crucial Functions of Zinc in Thyroid Hormone Metabolism

Zinc is key in the process of making and using thyroid hormones, as noted above.

To review zinc is vital for our thyroid hormones in many ways:

1. Zinc facilitates the synthesis of thyroid hormones: Zinc plays a key role in making T4 and T3, the main thyroid hormones.
2. Zinc aids in thyroid hormone conversion: It helps change main hormone T4 into active T3 by sparking deiodinase enzymes. T4 loses an iodine atom and turns into the stronger T3. It boosts the enzymes turning hormone precursors into active T3. This activity is vital for a healthy metabolism, healthy hair, energy levels, and a myriad of other symptoms that thyroid hormone help support.
3. Zinc supports the regulation of thyroid hormone receptors. It helps hormones bind to their target cells, ensuring that hormone messages get through. If there’s not enough zinc, these connections may weaken, causing trouble with hormone signals.

So zinc deficiencies may lead to tiredness, gaining weight, losing hair, and mood swings, among other things like getting sick more often and having a leaky gut.

Eating enough zinc-rich foods is a good way to keep your thyroid healthy. Oysters, beef, chicken, pumpkin seeds, dark chocolate and nuts are great sources.

Zinc-Rich Foods	Serving Size	Zinc Content (mg)
Oysters	3 ounces (85 grams)	74
Beef	3 ounces (85 grams)	7
Chicken	3 ounces (85 grams)	2.5
Pumpkin Seeds	1 ounce (28 grams)	2.2
Pine Nuts	1 ounce (28 grams)	1.8

In some cases you may need a zinc supplement.  With trace minerals, it’s important to supplement them in a balanced way.  More on this and some of my favorite trace mineral supplement options to come so keep reading.

The Essential Role of Iodine in Thyroid Health

Iodine also is key for thyroid health.  But it’s important with iodine not to overdo it; we have a narrow window of how much iodine we need for optimal thyroid functioning.

Inadequate iodine in our diet causes health problems, especially in places with little iodine in the ground or in people’s diets.

I generally recommend that my patients with hypothyroidism eat foods rich in iodine for good thyroid health, instead of supplementing large amounts of iodine. Iodine is found in sea vegetables, seafood, dairy, and iodized salt.

I also sometimes use iodine in thyroid support supplement blends, but I stay away from recommending isolated high doses of iodine.  I also track iodine levels when indicated.

Iodine-Rich Foods	Iodine Content (mcg per serving)
Kelp (1/4 cup)	415-2000
Cod (3 ounces)	99
Yogurt (1 cup)	87
Cranberries (1 cup)	400
Milk (8 ounces)	56

Eating a balanced diet, including iodine-rich foods, is great for your thyroid. But always talk to a doctor or a dietitian before making big changes to your diet or adding new supplements.

Impact of Auto-immunity and trace mineral deficiencies

Nutritional problems are really important in causing and making thyroid disease worse.  However, we should also consider how deficiencies interplay with other health conditions.

Celiac disease, an auto-immune condition in which eating gluten causes the body to make antibodies against it and attack the small intestine, can lead to poor nutrient absorption, which in turn can lead to thyroid disease.

Auto-immune diseases can run in pairs, so we can often see a relationship between celiac disease and an autoimmune thyroid disease called Hashimoto’s thyroiditis. In this disease, our body attacks our thyroid.

Because of this connection, I often recommend that my patients with Hashiomotos avoid gluten.  This can improve digestion and absorption in general and, in particular, the absorption of trace minerals like copper, zinc, iodine, and selenium.

Sometimes, you may need to take trace mineral supplements if your diet doesn’t give you enough of these key minerals. But, always talk to your doctor before you start taking them.  Here are some of my favorite trace mineral supplements:

• Designs for Health Complete Mineral Complex
• 

  Designs for Health Complete Mineral Complex - Essential + Trace Minerals Supplement with Magnesium Malate, Chromium, Zinc + More - Iron-Free Multi Minerals Blend - Vegan + Gluten Free (90 Capsules)

  • Daily Support - Contains multi mineral supplements to help support proper mineral status and enzyme function. They can also help deliver targeted replacement in situations of known deficiencies, or after specific treatments that may deplete minerals in the body.*
  • Essential + Trace Minerals - A comprehensive 12 multi minerals supplement with Iodine, Calcium Magnesium Malate, Zinc, Selenium, Copper, Manganese, Chromium, Molybdenum, Potassium, Boron & Vanadium.
  • Superior Nutrient Forms - Complete Mineral Complex is an iron-free formula that provides minerals in their chelated form to enhance bioavailability. These forms allows for superior absorption, and may be more GI friendly.*
  • Vegan & Non-GMO - Designs for Health maintains a strict, no-compromises approach to quality raw material selection. This multimineral supplement is vegetarian and vegan-friendly, and made without GMOs, gluten, dairy, or soy.*
  • Clinically-Trusted Care - DFH is the #1 practitioner supplement brand recommended by functional medicine professionals and the #1 practitioner supplement brand personally trusted by functional medicine professionals.**

  $27.49

  Buy on Amazon
• Pure Encapsulations Iodine 650 
• 

  Pure Encapsulations Mineral 650 | Hypoallergenic Combination of Balanced Chelated|Minerals | 180 Capsules

  • Physiologic Function: Mineral 650 provides the body with highly bioavailable form of the minerals essential to support optimal physiologic function.*
  • Balanced Minerals: This is a highly-absorbable, balanced combination of minerals.
  • Optimal Absorption: By providing minerals in a controlled ratio, this formula prevents minerals from competing with each other for absorption in the digestive tract.*
  • Pure Quality: Our supplements are made with only premium ingredients sourced from trusted suppliers and guided by our nutritional experts, then carefully manufactured and tested to verify their potency and purity.
  • Pure Difference: What makes us different isn't just our process or what goes into our supplements -- what we leave out matters, too. Pure Encapsulations products are FREE FROM wheat, eggs, tree nuts & peanuts, gluten, artificial colors, flavors & sweeteners, coatings and shellacs, GMOs, and unnecessary binders, fillers & preservatives.

  $34.00

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Copper’s Influence on Autoimmune Thyroid Disorders

Copper is important for the immune system and helps with inflammation. Though its lack is not a direct cause of these diseases, wrong copper levels can make them worse.

The Role of Selenium in Thyroid Autoimmunity

Selenium is a vital mineral for good thyroid and immune health. It helps some of the same enzymes listed above make and convert the active thyroid hormone T3.

Research shows that having enough selenium can also calm the immune system, reduce swelling, and lessen the effects of thyroid autoimmune disease by reducing some of the antibodies that attack the thyroid, antithyroperoxidase antibodies.

Adding selenium to your diet with a doctor’s advice may help those with Hashimoto’s or Graves’ thyroiditis (an autoimmune disease that often leads to overactive thyroid function also through the body attacking the thyroid).

Selenium helps reduce inflammation by being part of glutathione peroxidase, a potent enzyme in the fight against oxidative stress.

Comparing the Influence of Copper and Selenium on Autoimmune Thyroid Disorders

	Copper	Selenium
Role	Regulates immune system function and inflammation	Supports thyroid hormone metabolism and immune function
Influence on Autoimmune Thyroid Disorders	Imbalance may contribute to progression or severity	May help modulate immune response and reduce inflammation
Sources	Liver, shellfish, nuts, seeds	Brazil nuts, fish, poultry, eggs
Recommended Intake	900 mcg/day for adults; at a minimum, needs may be higher	55 mcg/day for adults; at a minimum, needs may be higher

Understanding how copper and selenium affect thyroid issues helps people with Hashimoto’s and Graves’ make smart choices.  Work with your healthcare provider to monitor your levels and supplement or eat more of these important minerals if needed.

Interactions Between Copper, Zinc, and Iodine

In keeping the thyroid and your female hormone balance healthy, copper, zinc, selenium and iodine work together. They need to be in the right balance for your hormones to work well.

Synergistic Effect on Thyroid and Hormone Health

Copper, zinc, selenium and iodine help each other and your hormones.  They must be balanced to work well and help with optimal thyroid hormone production, thyroid metabolism, and healthy levels of estrogen and progesterone.

It is important to maintain an even level of copper, zinc, selenium, and iodine. Too much or too little can cause problems.

For example, if you supplement with zinc at 15-20 mg or above and don’t also supplement with copper, you can develop a copper deficiency. Always look for copper in any zinc supplement you take.

And, as we talked about above, too much iodine can actually make your thyroid hormone production less effective and worsen hypothyroidism and thyroid metabolism.

Health Issues Associated with Excessive Intake of Trace Minerals

Trace minerals are key for our vital functions. But, too much copper, zinc, and iodine can be harmful. Keeping a good balance is crucial to avoid health troubles.

Copper toxicity: Too much copper can be toxic. This causes nausea, vomiting, and can hurt the liver. High copper levels can damage the nervous system, too. This leads to tremors and thinking problems.  This state can also lead to high estrogen levels.

Zinc overload: Too much zinc can also can make you feel sick and have stomach pain or nausea and/or vomiting. It can lower copper levels, affecting hormone control and health.

Iodine excess: More iodine than your body needs upsets thyroid function. Iodine excess can cause thyroid issues like goiter. Keeping iodine intake in check is key for good thyroid health.

Detecting and Treating Trace Mineral Deficiencies

Next, let’s look at ways to find and fix deficiencies in minerals like copper, zinc, and iodine.

Diagnostic Tests for Assessing Mineral Levels

It’s important to consider and diagnose trace mineral deficiencies accurately for the right treatment. Several tests can check your body’s mineral levels to find any shortages. These tests involve:

• Blood tests can show the levels of trace minerals in your blood directly. This snapshot helps you see your mineral status and spot any deficiencies or toxicities. I recommend checking RBC copper and ceruloplasmin, RBC Zinc, and selenium. Iodine deficiencies can be trickier to diagnose via blood tests. I prefer urinary or hair analysis.
• Urinary tests reveal certain minerals in your urine. They indicate how well your body absorbs minerals and show how it uses them.
• Hair analysis measures minerals in your hair. This method reflects long-term mineral levels and how your body gets rid of them over time. Although not everyone agrees on its accuracy, it still offers some clues about mineral imbalances. It’s important to follow the instructions when collecting your hair, and often, quite a long piece of hair is needed.

Using these tests together and with a professional’s help can pinpoint and treat mineral deficiencies.  You can also use urinary tests to look for heavy metals, which can displace your trace mineral levels.  I often use the Doctors Data test for this.

Treatment Strategies for Restoring Mineral Balance

After finding a deficiency, it’s time to restore mineral balance and support your thyroid. Treatments could involve:

• Dietary changes can be very effective. Eating more foods high in the trace minerals can help. Many foods like shellfish, kelp, organ meats, nuts, dark chocolate, leafy greens, and seeds, can contain a blend of trace minerals that can work together to boost your levels.
• Mineral supplementation might be needed. If changing your diet isn’t enough, supplements can provide the minerals you lack in a form your body can absorb easily. See my favorites above but always be sure to discuss with your healthcare provider first and to track your levels to be sure you aren’t overdoing it.  Mineral supplements are best taken with food.

Let’s review some good choices for each nutrient:

So, what can you eat to get more copper? Here are a few things:

• Shellfish
• Organ meats, such as liver
• Nuts and seeds
• Dark chocolate
• Leafy greens

And, for more zinc in your diet, focus on these foods:

• Oysters
• Meat, like beef and lamb
• Poultry, such as chicken and turkey
• Legumes and beans
• Nuts and seeds

Need to boost your iodine levels? Add these to what you eat:

• Seaweed
• Seafood, like fish and shrimp
• Dairy products
• Eggs
• Iodized salt

How about selenium? Check these foods out:

• Brazil nuts (the best selenium source)
• Beef
• Turkey
• Chicken
• Fish
• Shellfish
• Beans
• Lentils

Conclusion

Keeping our thyroid healthy and hormones balanced is one way to make the perimenopause transition easier and to help after menopause starts.

Being careful about the minerals we get is essential. A diet packed with foods that have copper, zinc, selenium and iodine helps keep your thyroid optimal, boost your immune system, balance your hormones, and increase your energy.

You may also like:

A Complete Guide: How Does Perimenopause Affect You?

What No One Tells You About Cortisol and Estrogen Dominance

Complete Guide: How to Read Female Hormone Blood Test Results