TOP MD'S NEW Thyroid Cure

BREAKTHROUGH: Research reveals that stress and trauma lead to surprising gland slowdowns that make weight loss difficult. Harvard doc shares the simple plan that heals and slims

- LISA MAXBAUER

The news is shocking: Autoimmune conditions are skyrocketing—and 80% of cases are in women, according to research in Frontiers in Endocrinology. When the body attacks itself, as it does in these diseases, it most often harms the thyroid, joints or gut, wreaking havoc on energy levels and weight.

Some experts estimate that as many as 50 million Americans currently suffer from autoimmune symptoms (or have blood markers that indicate problems are brewing). “That’s an important opportunity to address the root causes and prevent or reverse the condition,” says Sara Szal Gottfried, M.D., a Harvard and MIT graduate who is focusing her efforts on this issue with her new book, The Autoimmune Cure. And she’s spotlighting a crucial yet often-overlooked piece of the healing puzzle.

“The more I worked with patients who had autoimmune issues—and battled my own—the more clearly I could see a powerful, underlying connection: trauma,” explains Dr. Gottfried. Indeed, researchers find that developing most autoimmune conditions comes down to three factors: genetics, a leaky gut and/or, more surprisingly, a traumatic trigger.

It turns out trauma can mean more than we think. Dr. Gottfried says, “For trauma to trigger, it does not have to be cataclysmic, ‘big T’ trauma; it can be just as easily subtle, quiet, minor or insidious, ‘little t’ trauma.” That could be something as simple as stress from a pregnancy, lack of sleep due to menopause, even long COVID.

Why are women at such high risk?