Food for thought

[lilytkn1]

HI everyone !!can any of the community here share whether the food we eat can affect or give effect to hyperthyroidism ie either accelerate or help to control the syndrome?

[SamD7]

I have read that if you have hypothyroidism to steer clear from brockly, curly cale, cabbage. As it aggravates the thyroid further I’m not 100% sure why, you may like to research it further

[greygoose in reply to SamD7]

You're talking about goitrogens. But there's a lot of misunderstanding about goitrogens. What they actually do is impede the up-take of iodine by the thyroid, reducing the amount of hormone it can make. They don't aggravate the thyroid. And, when you stop eating them, things go back to normal. But, you have to eat quite large quantities of them. And, if you're taking thyroid hormone replacement, and not 100% reliant on the thyroid for thyroid hormone, it's unlikely they will affect you at all.

Besides, the list of goitrogens is far larger than just those few green veggies. I bet you eat a lot of goitrogens every day and are totally unaware of it. No need to give up the cabbage!

[Angel_of_the_North in reply to greygoose]

And cooking them mitigates the effect (and most of the cabbage family are protective against breast cancer - DIM), so the moral is don't juice pounds of raw cabbage very day and drink it, but generally the benefits of brassicas outweigh the problems by a long way.

[greygoose in reply to Angel_of_the_North]

But, it's ok to juice pounds of raw cabbage every day and drink it if you're on a full replacement dose of thyroid hormone replacement. Goitrogens won't affect your levo.

[Angel_of_the_North in reply to greygoose]

Perhaps if you have no thyroid and are a good converter on a decent dose, but I wouldn't chance it. Not pounds anyway.

[greygoose in reply to Angel_of_the_North]

No, I was exaggerating. Ghastly thought, anyway! But, You don't have to have your thyroid removed or killed off for goitrogens not to affect you - they don't affect everyone, anyway - you just need a full replacement dose. And, goitrogens don't affect conversion.

[lilytkn1 in reply to greygoose]

Hi greygoose & all .. how about hyperthyroidism?? any food that can help the over active thyroid ie stop from being too active and over produce the hormone?

[Angel_of_the_North in reply to lilytkn1]

I'd try juicing and drinking lots of brassicas and eating strawberries - all goitrogens. Lemon balm tea is also supposed to be helpful. Never been hyper so don't really know.

[greygoose in reply to lilytkn1]

Not too sure about that. I don't know if goitrogens actually work like that. I've never heard of anyone trying. Although, one person I used to know did say that she craved soy when she was hyper, and was always eating it. But I'm not sure it helped. The end result could possibly be that you just develop a goitre, and the thyroid - driven by the antibodies - struggles to get enough iodine to produce more and more hormone. But, that's just a theory, I don't know.

[lilytkn1 in reply to greygoose]

Hi... Thanks greygoose & all for the inputs..but then I read that for those who are hyper have to reduce the intake of iodine.. mainly from seafood like seaweed. I still remember my Endo asking me (during the first visit) whether i crave for seaweed.

[SamD7 in reply to greygoose]

Grey goose thank you very much for your response. I will find out what other foods goitrogens are hiding in. 😊

[greygoose in reply to SamD7]

Why? I was explaining above why goitrogens don't matter. Forget them.

[SamD7 in reply to greygoose]

If I know what foods contain goitrogens. I will avoid then

[greygoose in reply to SamD7]

But I just explained why you don't have to avoid them.

[userotc]

More generally than possible goitrogen issues which have been addressed, my answer to your question is yes. By that I mean diet/nutrition is a key part of wellbeing which can help with medical issues such as thyroid. It makes sense that what you eat must be important and numerous functional experts agree.

There have been various discussions on this forum about the subject.