What’s the answer when it comes to cruciferous veggies and thyroid function?
I posted to Kevin & Annmarie Gianni’s Renegade Health blog yesterday. Kevin asked the question which raw foods couldn’t be eaten raw. I mentioned that cruciferous veggies like cabbage, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, and kale are problematic because of their thyroid suppressing enzymes. (Surprisingly, peaches and pears have these enzymes too.) Also mentioned in my comment were greens like beet greens, spinach and chard, that have oxalic acid. Oxalic acid block calcium and iron absorption and can irritate the mouth and intestinal tract.
It stirred up quite the conversation and confusion with the commenters. It’s understandable. The rub is all of these vegetables and greens are nutritional powerhouses and are valued and renown for their anti-cancer fighting abilities. And who doesn’t want food that has great nutrition and inhibits cancers?
So what do we do?
It’s the age old truism. All things in moderation. And for those who don’t have existing thyroid issues, chance are you will be unaffected by the thyroid suppressing enzymes in cruciferous veggies and greens provided you don’t overdo. For those who currently suffer from hypothyroidism, if you eat a lot of these vegetables and you will likely find yourself experiencing hypothyroid symptoms.
Donna Gates of BodyEcology recommends that, in lieu of cooking them, raw foodists eat raw, fermented cruciferous vegetables. However, Weston A Price’s article on crucifers asserts even fermentation does not get rid of the thyroid suppressing effects. Weston Price’s recommendation:
“An increased dietary intake of iodine compensates for the consumption of moderate amounts of crucifers but cannot reverse the effects of large amounts of crucifers.”
Add natural iodine into your diet with foods like asparagus, dulse, garlic, kelp, sea salt, sesame seeds, and interestingly… check it out… cruciferous veggies spinach, swiss chard and turnip greens. Hmmm… maybe nature was helping us out on those last three. 
I found it interesting that the Weston Price article points out that there may be some additional cancer-fighting properties to even goitrogens – although that is still unknown as of right now.
Again, I believe the key is all things in moderation. If you have hypothyroid, you’ll want to be especially careful. The wonderful thing is nature has given us such an amazing diversity of nutritious, cancer-fighting foods… that we don’t have to rely solely on cruciferous veggies. So bottom line, mix these amazing vegetables into your diet, just not too much. 
Embrace Love and Life. Embrace Your Health!
August 7th, 2009 at 10:29 am
What’s the answer when it comes to cruciferous veggies and thyroiid?…
Broccoli, cabbage, spinach all cancer-fighting, nutritional powerhouse foods… that suppress our thyroid hormone and block calcium and iron absorption. So what’s the answer?…
September 3rd, 2009 at 6:21 pm
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