Date of Award

2026

Document Type

Capstone

Degree Name

Master of Science (MS)

Department

Physician Assistant Studies

Committee Chair

Ashley Kernicky

Abstract

Introduction: Hashimoto’s thyroiditis (HT) is the most common cause of hypothyroidism worldwide. Although levothyroxine remains the standard treatment for hypothyroidism caused by HT, interest has grown in dietary interventions, particularly gluten-free diets (GFDs), as a means of reducing thyroid autoimmunity and improving clinical outcomes. The purpose of this clinical review is to analyze the effectiveness of GFD on improving thyroid autoantibodies in patients with HT.

Methods: PubMed was search with a specific search strategy using key terms “Hashimoto’s thyroiditis”, “autoimmune hypothyroidism”, “Hashimoto’s” and “diet”. Operators and filters narrowed results to sixteen. Four studies met the inclusion criteria, including three systematic reviews and one randomized controlled trial (RCT).

Results: Some evidence suggests that a GFD may reduce thyroid autoantibodies, however, this was not consistent across all studies reviewed. Meta-analyses demonstrated statistically significant reductions in some thyroid antibody levels, while RCTs did not consistently demonstrate clinically meaningful improvement in thyroid function or oxidative stress compared with control diets. Limitations across all studies included small sample sizes, short follow-up periods, heterogenous study designs, etc.

Discussion: Current evidence does not support routinely recommending a GFD for patients with HT who do not have celiac disease. Although slight improvements have been observed, the findings have not been consistent. Larger, high-quality RCTs and longer follow-up periods are needed to determine whether specific patient populations may benefit from gluten restriction.

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 4.0 License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 4.0 License

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