Tag: Triiodothyronine

While many search for dietary sources of triiodothyronine (T3), the reality is that no foods contain T3 hormone directly. Instead, a variety of key micronutrients found in specific foods are essential for your thyroid gland to produce and convert thyroid hormones effectively.

Thyroxine (T4), a key thyroid hormone, is a derivative of the amino acid tyrosine and famously contains four iodine atoms. This process reveals which amino acids contain iodine, highlighting how the body utilizes a single amino acid to produce crucial metabolic regulators.

While iodine is an essential component for producing thyroid hormones, the actual conversion of the inactive T4 into the active T3 is a separate process that happens outside the thyroid gland. This critical biochemical step, called deiodination, removes an iodine atom, meaning iodine itself is not directly required for the conversion of T4 to T3.