Prominent weight loss doctor Sanford Siegal, author of Is Your Thyroid Making You Fat? (Warner Books, 2000), applauds Oprah Winfrey for raising awareness of an often misdiagnosed yet easily treated disease that causes obesity in millions of Americans
Miami, FL (PRWEB) October 19, 2007 -- Renowned weight loss doctor and author Sanford Siegal, D.O., M.D., best known as the creator of the popular Dr. Siegal's COOKIE DIET™ weight loss system, applauds the sudden renewed interest in hypothyroidism. Hypothyroidism is an often undiagnosed disease that slows metabolism and causes a host of cruel symptoms including depression, dry skin, infertility and, most notably, obesity. In his most recent book, Is Your Thyroid Making You Fat? (Warner Books, 2000), Dr. Siegal takes issue with his fellow physicians who he says rely too heavily on questionable laboratory tests and ignore the obvious signs of a metabolic problem in their overweight patients.
"I've treated more than a half million overweight patients during the past fifty years. I've ordered thousands of thyroid lab tests and I can tell you they are highly unreliable," said Dr. Siegal. "I've ordered the same test on the same person several days in a row and gotten widely conflicting results."
During an appearance on ABC's Good Morning America in 2003, Dr. Siegal told host Charles Gibson that he estimates that one out of four overweight patients come to him with a thyroid problem that has gone undiagnosed by their family physicians.
"We have to handle those patients differently," Dr. Siegal told host Charles Gibson. "We diagnose the problem and treat it."
Dr. Siegal has developed his own self-test for determining hypothyroidism which he claims is more accurate than conventional tests. The test, which appears in his book, involves evaluating the patient's weight loss while on a fixed calorie diet and comparing that result with the expected standard.
According to Dr. Siegal, many overweight people truthfully tell their family doctors that they don't overeat and yet can't lose weight even on a low calorie diet. Often doctors don't believe their patients and accuse them of overeating.
"I've received thousands of emails and letters from readers who said that they felt vindicated when they read the book," added Dr. Siegal. "For years, they'd been told that their obesity, depression, and other medical problems were caused by their lack of willpower when, in fact, the culprit was a sluggish metabolism."
In addition to his concern about the methods some of his colleagues use to diagnose hypothyroidism, Dr. Siegal is equally critical of the most commonly prescribed medication for treating the problem, levothyroxine. According to Dr. Siegal, this synthetic form of thyroid hormone is less effective than the natural form known as Armour thyroid or Thyroid USP.
"The tragic thing about undiagnosed hypothyroidism and the devastating effects it has on millions of lives is that it is generally easy to treat with natural thyroid hormone, an inexpensive, well-tolerated medication," added Dr. Siegal.
ABOUT SANFORD SIEGAL, D.O., M.D.
Dr. Sanford Siegal is a practicing physician whose Miami, Florida-based medical practice, Siegal Medical Group, has treated obesity exclusively since 1960. He is the author of several books on topics ranging from high fiber dieting to drug-free hunger control to hypothyroidism. Dr. Siegal is frequently the subject of news reports and has been profiled by Fox News Channel, CNN, Woman's World, It's Your Call with Lynn Doyle and many other media outlets.
The Fox News Channel profile of Dr. Siegal and his COOKIE DIET™
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