Research
Hormonal
Thyroid hormone analogs (thyromimetics) targeting specific thyroid hormone receptors (TRs) have been proposed to treat obesity and metabolic diseases by increasing energy expenditure without the adverse systemic effects of supraphysiologic thyroid hormone doses.
Thyroid hormone supplementation is not a safe or approved treatment for obesity due to adverse side effects. Research into targeted thyroid hormone analogs (thyromimetics) is ongoing, but no such therapies have been approved by the FDA. Lifestyle interventions remain the standard of care.
ModerateQualifiesMEDIUM confidence
Adverse effects of supraphysiologic doses of TH make it an inappropriate therapy to induce EE, but given the tissue specificity of the TR isoforms, isoform-specific TR(b)-specific TH analogs (thyromimetics) have been proposed as a way of targeting the TH actions to a specific tissue...
Why this rating
Based on preclinical studies and early-phase human trials, but no approved therapies exist.
Source
Thyroid hormone signaling in energy homeostasis and energy metabolism
Elizabeth A. McAninch et al. · Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences · 2014
DOI 10.1111/nyas.12374
narrative_reviewCited 232×
Read the paper DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10
More from this paper
- Thyroid hormone (TH) signaling is a primary regulator of basal metabolic rate and energy expenditure, with severe hypothyroidism capable of slowing total body energy expenditure by up to 50%.Good
- Brown adipose tissue (BAT) is a targetable site for adaptive thermogenesis in adult humans, where thyroid hormone signaling is required for its differentiation and function, specifically through the induction of UCP1 expression.Good
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