Page 47 - Winter2017

ing hormone and stress on the thyroid gland,” calls into question the certainty” of the suppos- The body
which is “a prescription for thyroid trouble.” edly protective soy-heart relationship. This
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Even one serving of soy food can pack more of landmark shift from an ordinarily intractable needs fats
a thyroid-inhibiting punch (“up to three times agency is good news not just for heart health to make
the goitrogenic potency”) as pharmaceutical but also for thyroid health. In fact, the two are hormones;
drugs intentionally designed for that purpose. intricately interrelated. Cardiovascular symp-
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A health writer who has reviewed the body of toms are “some of the most characteristic and when intake
evidence on soy and the thyroid advises caution common” signs of thyroid disease, and thyroid of healthy fats
with all forms of fractionated soy, particularly dysfunction can explain “changes in cardiac is inadequate,
because these products also are likely to derive output, cardiac contractility, blood pressure,
from genetically modified (GM) soy. 14 vascular resistance and rhythm disturbances.” 17 hormone
In the Journal of Medical Case Reports in A thyroid blogger asks, “Could there be people levels
2017, Japanese researchers corroborated soy’s on statin drugs and blood pressure medication… “plummet”
role as an “exogenous food” capable of inter- who are actually undiagnosed hypothyroidism
fering with thyroid hormone production. They sufferers?” 18 and the
presented (to their knowledge) “the first report hormone-
of the presence of [soy] isoflavone in the serum LOWFAT, LOW-CARB, HELP! producing
of a patient with severe hypothyroidism.” The Another piece of dogma that continues to
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report described the case of a seventy-two-year- steer Americans’ eating habits—and thyroid thyroid
old woman who showed up at the hospital with health—in the wrong direction is the slow-to- “similarly
sudden-onset severe hypothyroidism after six go-away advice to eat a lowfat diet. (Fortunately, takes a hit.”
months of regularly consuming a processed soy- this advice also has just taken a major hit; an
containing “health drink.” Because the woman eighteen-country study published in The Lancet
was an ongoing patient, the researchers had ac- in November 2017 shows no association between
cess to her frozen serum from five time points total fat or saturated fat intake and heart disease,
before the hospital admission and continuing for while pointing to a higher risk of total mortal-
several months after admission. This allowed ity associated with high carbohydrate intake. )
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them to pinpoint the soy isoflavones as the The Hormones & Balance website (au-
culprit for the patient’s sudden decline, leading thored by a holistic health coach who recovered
the authors to conclude that “consuming health from Graves’ Disease, Hashimoto’s and adrenal
drinks that include soy isoflavone powder ex- fatigue) makes the point that our bodies need
tract can lead to severe hypothyroidism.” After good-quality fats to absorb the all-important
immediate discontinuation of the beverage, the fat-soluble vitamins (A, D, E and K)—crucial
woman’s thyroid markers gradually returned to vitamins that thyroid patients often are lack-
more normal levels. ing. Secondly, the body needs fats to make
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The ringing endorsement of commercial hormones; when intake of healthy fats is in-
soy by celebrity doctors such as Andrew Weil adequate, hormone levels “plummet” and the
and Christiane Northrup has helped perpetu- hormone-producing thyroid “similarly takes a
ate the erroneous belief that products such as hit.” Some of the healthiest fats in this (and
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soy milk are healthy, but those days may be many other) regards include butter, ghee and co-
numbered. In response to a petition submitted conut oil. As certified nutritionist Kim Schuette
almost ten years ago by the Weston A. Price points out, all three fats are excellent sources
Foundation, the U.S. Food and Drug Adminis- of butyric acid, which plays an important role
tration (FDA) belatedly has proposed revoking in supporting delivery of thyroid hormones to
food manufacturers’ ability to claim that soy receptor sites throughout the body. Others
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protein reduces heart disease risk. An FDA agree that “high intake of saturated and mono-
representative stated, “This is the first time we unsaturated fat but low intake of polyunsatu-
have considered it necessary to propose a rule rated fat would seem to be optimal for thyroid
to revoke a health claim,” admitting that “the function.” 22
totality of currently available scientific evidence Schuette’s discussion of beneficial fats

WINTER 2017 Wise Traditions 47