78 Achieving pH Balance to Treat Specific Ailments
Foods That Suppress Thyroid Function
There are also substances in certain foods that suppress thyroid func-
tion. These foods should be avoided if you have an underactive thyroid:
beans (all beans except string beans); peanuts; polyunsaturated oils;
undercooked broccoli, caulifl ower, and cabbage; muscle meat; and beta-
carotene. Goiter (enlarged thyroid) ceased to be a major health problem
when iodine was added to salt, but more recently, with the use of iodide
as an emulsifi er in bread dough, yogurt, and pudding to make a smooth
consistency, the public is getting an overload of iodine. This can inter-
fere with the thyroid’s production of thyroxin to the same extent as too
little iodine and is probably one of the causes of the current epidemic of
hypothyroidism. Foods that promote thyroid function are animal hearts,
butter, vitamin A instead of beta-carotene, skin for its gelatin content
(unless you are sensitive to MSG [monosodium glutamate]), and eggs.^6Avoid Processed Foods and Water Pollutants
As discussed earlier, thyroid function is also inhibited by the heavy
metal residues found in processed foods and in food additives. Estro-
gen, a stress hormone, can increase the heavy metal levels in our bodies
because it stimulates the absorption of iron. Excess iron depletes oxy-
gen needed for respiration (energy production). Avoiding processed
foods that are contaminated with heavy metals improves thyroid func-
tion and lowers excess estrogen levels. This in turn prevents surplus
iron from being stored in the body, which in older people becomes a
problem, as an aging body absorbs heavy metals more readily than a
young one.
Low thyroxin levels in the blood, which inhibit thyroid function, are
also caused by water pollutants. Sir Robert McCarrison, a British physi-
cian who spent a lifetime traveling to remote areas of the world looking
for the cause of goiter, found one answer on the side of a mountain in
Kashmir, India. Nine villages, built one above the other, shared the
same water supply that fl owed in a channel down the mountain. This
water served every purpose: drinking and cooking, irrigation of crops,
bathing, washing utensils and clothes, as a latrine, and as a basin for