Crucifers – Thyroid and YOU
You can’t eat cruciferous vegetables if you have a thyroid disorder, that’s cliché advice given to every patient with Hyperthyroidism. But that’s not a Rule of thumb.
At Nutrishilp, the approach is not just to prescribe the remedy but also to describe it.
for that one needs to understand the thyroid first,
The thyroid is a butterfly-shaped gland located in your neck below Adam’s apple, it produces hormones that regulate the body’s metabolic rate-controlling heart, muscle, and digestive function, brain development, and bone maintenance. Its correct functioning depends on a good supply of iodine from the diet.
Thyroid diseases occur more commonly in women than men, in part because of the autoimmune nature of many thyroid disorders.
A condition in which the thyroid gland doesn’t produce enough thyroid hormone is called hypothyroidism. The deficiency of thyroid hormones can disrupt heart rate, body temperature, and all aspects of metabolism.
Cruciferous vegetables relate to or denote plants of the cabbage family.
These vegetables are chemically unique in many ways, including their high level of sulfur-containing compounds called glucosinolates — which gives them their distinctive smell.
glucosinolates and other chemicals in these veggies are considered goitrogens, which means they may interfere with the production of thyroid hormone — mostly by disrupting thyroid’s use of iodine. The thyroid uses iodine for the normal production of thyroid hormone, and if it can’t access iodine properly or if there isn’t enough iodine in your body, your thyroid hormone level will drop.
Thus, it is interpreted that cruciferous vegetables — such as kale, cauliflower, broccoli, cabbage, and Brussels sprouts may worsen the thyroid conditions. BUT
There is no evidence that cruciferous vegetables slow down or “kill the thyroid. Unfortunately, there are many who don’t fact-check and pass the incorrect statements claiming that “all leafy greens are bad for your thyroid,” when that’s not the case.
Cruciferous vegetables are super nutritionally dense foods so they are good for women ( particularly)with thyroid issues who are often depleted in micronutrients.
Avoiding cruciferous vegetables completely does not help improve Thyroid issues.
Leafy greens are richer in vitamins and minerals than any other of their distant veggie cousins. cutting out these foods then makes us rely further on supplements – which is not the way we should be living and healing.
Since 90% of thyroid problems occur for autoimmune reasons, it’s more important to restore the health of the immune system through our gut, than obsess about cutting out all crucifers. Moreover
Cruciferous Vegetables are –
Potent Anti-Inflammatory Agents –
When we chew and digest leafy greens, glucosinolates break down into biologically active nutrients called isothiocyanates, which have anti-inflammatory actions.
Support Liver Function and Thyroid Hormone Conversion
support your liver function by activating phase 2 detoxification. A well-functioning liver is critical in helping the conversion of T4 to T3 and that is particularly important for thyroid patients. That conversion in part happens in the liver via a process called deiodination.
Help Combat Estrogen Dominance (The leading cause of thyroid nodules and thyroid cancer!)
Leafy greens can reduce the load. Goitrogenic vegetable help in liver detoxification as well as the elimination of mutated estrogen metabolites. This, in turn, helps women maintain a healthy balance of estrogen, progesterone, and thyroid hormone, which is critical for natural hormone balance. women who eat their leafy greens may reduce estrogen dominance. Stabilizing estrogen can also help stabilize many other hormones.
Have Protective Benefits Against Cancer
Leafy greens not only help prevent cancer and block the new blood vessels that cancerous tumors set up to feed on, but they can also help to improve the odds of survival for women with breast cancer.
BUT yes the effect of goitrogenic content on foods like broccoli, kale, silverbeet, cauliflower, and other cruciferous can not be completely ignored thus to kill the snake and save the stick too, it is advised –
- Cook Your Crucifers
Cruciferous foods are goitrogenic when raw. But once cooked, the glucosinolates they contain are deactivated, losing up to 80% of their goitrogenic chemicals, so that they no longer block the uptake of iodine.
2. Ferment Your Crucifers
Fermented vegetables are powerful hormone-balancing foods because they contain good bacteria to boost gut health. And, though fermented crucifers like sauerkraut are raw, you don’t need to cut them out. It’s okay to have one or two small tablespoon servings of fermented foods like broccoli, cabbage, kale, or cauliflower a day.
A Word Of Caution
Having said that crucifers should not be banned from a hormone-balancing diet, the following should be remembered –
- If you have hypothyroidism due to an iodine deficiency, goitrogenic foods could lower your iodine further. So eat them with caution.
- If you suspect you might have thyroid issues, you may still be making some of your thyroid hormones in low amounts and goitrogenic foods could deplete that production further.
“The key to treating thyroid conditions (since most of them are autoimmune conditions triggered by troubled digestive health), is to restore your digestive health”
-Shilpi Goel, Dietician and Wellness Expert, Founder Nutrishilp