Nutrition Videos

Hi! I'm Stelios Pantazis. I'm a doctor and I specialize in medical nutrition and metabolic disorders. Today, we're talking about the foods that affect the thyroid's function. If you suffer from thyroid problems or some acquaintance or friend of yours suffers from them, I'm sure you've heard about some foods considered to affect the thyroid's function, such as broccoli, cabbage or soy. You may have also heard the term "goitrogenic foods", namely foods that cause or worsen goiters, which are associated with the thyroid's hypofunction or hypothyroidism. Can foods as healthy as cabbage and broccoli really harm someone suffering from thyroid problems and needing them so much? You'll find out in this video. A food is defined as goitrogenic if it affects the thyroid's normal function, namely if it makes the thyroid's function and the effect of the thyroid hormones on the body harder. As you already know, the thyroid's proper function is necessary for the metabolism to function properly. A hundred years ago, scientists noticed that there are some foods that affect the thyroid's function, while they studied rabbits eating fresh cabbage in large amounts. These rabbits' thyroid gland often increased significantly in volume, which is a condition called goiter. The foods leading to the increase of the thyroid gland's volume were named "goitrogenic foods". In the last 100 years, many foods rich in goitrogenic substances have been described, and today we're presenting these foods, when they're harmful for your health and what you can do to protect yourselves. Goitrogenic foods contain substances that may affect the thyroid's proper function in many ways, for example, blocking iodine absorption by the intestine or iodine inflow to the thyroid gland, or blocking the production of TSH, which stimulates the production of thyroxin, which is the thyroid's main hormone, or in other ways. When the thyroid doesn't function properly, this condition is called hypothyroidism. Goitrogenic substances are often considered very healthy, such as thiocyanates and flavonoids, which are powerful anti-oxidants that protect our vessels, or resveratrol in red wine and catechins in green tea. Let's see which foods contain goitrogenic substances now. You've all heard about the really healthy cruciferous vegetables. Cruciferous vegetables are a group of vegetables that are famous for their beneficial action and their strong anti-cancerous action. Unfortunately, cruciferous vegetables are rich in goitrogenic substances. The most famous cruciferous vegetables are broccoli and cauliflower, cabbage, Brussels sprouts, kale, spinach and wasabi. Other fruits, vegetables and dried nuts that are rich in goitrogenic substances are corn, flax, millet, peaches, peanuts, pears, pine nuts, strawberries and sweet potatoes. Finally, foods made from soy are also rich in goitrogenic substances, such as soy milk, tofu, edamame and tempeh. As we've said many times, all these foods are really healthy and should be abundant in a healthy diet. Therefore, we should now answer two questions: First, if you have no thyroid problems, namely you have no diagnosed problems, should you worry? Should you limit the consumption of these foods? The answer here is clear and simple: No way. If you haven't been diagnosed with thyroid problems by an endocrinologist, you shouldn't limit the consumption of these foods, which are so healthy. But if you've been diagnosed with hypothyroidism by an endocrinologist and you take medication for this, you shouldn't avoid these foods, but you should take some measures in order to protect yourselves from the goitrogenic substances that these foods contain. Let's see how you can eat these foods in the right way, so that they don't worsen your health problem. Make sure that your diet has a wide variety of foods, so that you don't often eat foods rich in goitrogenic substances and at the same time you can get many vitamins and trace elements. Cook all the foods I mentioned above, which are rich in goitrogenic substances. Cooking destroys an enzyme in these foods and, as a result, the goitrogenic substances in these foods significantly reduce. Before eating any of the vegetables I mentioned above, you should sauté, roast, steam or boil them. In this way, you'll significantly reduce their content in goitrogenic substances. Dip the food that is rich in goitrogenic substances in boiling water for 30-60 seconds. If you want to use some vegetable or fruit to make a smoothie and you don't want to cook it, you can dip it in boiling water for 30-60 seconds, which will dramatically reduce the food's content in goitrogenic substances. Increase the consumption of iodine and selenium. In a previous video, I talked extensively about this and I explained how iodine, selenium and zinc are really important substances for the thyroid's proper function. In fact, I recommended foods that are rich in these trace elements. Let me remind you that we take rodine from salt and just half a teaspoon of salt covers our daily needs in iodine. It's worth watching this video, in order to select foods rich in selenium and zinc and make sure you consume a sufficient amount of trace elements that will guarantee the thyroid's proper function. Finally, let me remind you what I said earlier. If you have no thyroid problems, there's no need to worry or change your diet concerning the foods that are rich in goitrogenic substances. But even if you suffer from hypothyroidism, if your diet includes many fruits and vegetables and a wide variety of foods, and if you cook the foods that are rich in goitrogenic substances before eating them, there's no need to worry. Let me point out that goitrogenic substances, as I said earlier, are really nutritious and should be included in your diet. The benefits outweigh the risks, if they're consumed in the right way and in moderation, even by people suffering from thyroid problems. Finally, if you want your thyroid to function as well as possible, it's really important that you not smoke and you have a normal weight, because these two things cause the biggest damage to your thyroid, as we've said before. If you liked this video, please give it a thumbs up. Share it with anyone who may find it interesting. Subscribe to our channel to get notified on future uploads. You can suggest new subjects in the comment section. Thank you very much!