Type of dietary carbohydrate affects thyroid hormone deiodination in iron-deficient rats

The interactive effect of iron deficiency and dietary carbohydrate type on growth and thyroid hormone status of Sprague-Dawley rats was studied. Rats were fed either an iron-adequate (approximately 35 micrograms Fe/g) or an iron-deficient (less than 3 micrograms Fe/g) diet that contained 70% carbohydrate. The carbohydrate sources were 100% cornstarch (STARCH), 85.7% cornstarch and 14.3% sucrose (STARCH/SUCR), 71.4% cornstarch, 14.3% sucrose and 14.3% dextrin (DEXTRIN), or 100% sucrose (SUCROSE). After 4 wk, iron-deficient rats weighed less than the iron-adequate rats and were severely anemic. Total food intake was lower in iron-deficient than in iron-adequate animals; it was also significantly lower in SUCROSE-fed animals relative to other carbohydrate groups. Plasma glucose concentrations were significantly higher in iron-deficient rats than in iron-adequate rats, but plasma thyroid hormones, thyroxine and triiodothyronine, and liver thyroxine monodeiodinase activity were lower. Deiodination of reverse triiodothyronine in liver was unaffected by iron deficiency regardless of carbohydrate treatment. The STARCH-fed animals had higher rates of hepatic thyroxine monodeiodinase activity than rats fed the other dietary carbohydrates. The two main conclusions from this study are that thyroid hormone metabolism is altered by iron deficiency regardless of food intake and that the best purified rodent diet for this type of study would contain a mixture of carbohydrate types to avoid the stimulation of thyroxine monodeiodinase by a 70% cornstarch diet.