Broccoli, Kale, and Cauliflower Rice — Good or Bad for Hashimoto's?

If you've been around the Hashimoto's world for a bit, you might have heard that you should avoid "goiterogenic veggies." That is, cruciferous vegetables like broccoli, cauliflower, and even Kale could make thyroid function worse.

But two of the most popular health foods, kale and cauliflower rice are cruciferous vegetables, which means you'd have to cut them out of your diet. And broccoli is a pretty common veggie to eat.

So is it true? Are cruciferous veggies bad for your thyroid?

The answer is a little bit, "yes" – but mostly "no." To learn more about what that means, let's start by talking about why cruciferous veggies are considered goiterogenic in the first place.  Or what goiterogenic even means.

Goiterogenic refers to creating a goiter. In the past, one of the most common reasons a goiter would form was because of an iodine deficiency.

Uncooked cruciferous vegetables can interfere with iodine uptake in the thyroid. As a result, they are considered... goiterogenic.

However, this is uncooked cruciferous veggies – consumed in large quantities. So if you eat a snack of raw broccoli, it probably won't hurt you. And if you cook said broccoli, it probably won't hurt you at all.

But most people in developed countries aren't iodine deficient. In fact, they are more likely to be consuming too much iodine, which studies have shown to trigger Hashimoto's.

We can see evidence for this in the review article, "Concentrations of thiocyanate and goitrin in human plasma, their precursor concentrations in brassica vegetables, and associated potential risk for hypothyroidism." The researchers found that the compounds that have goiter-causing potential were "minimimally adverse risks for thyroid health."

What does this all mean? If you were living in an area in which you were likely to be iodine deficient, then eating a lot of raw cruciferous veggies could potentially make your thyroid function worse. But you're probably not.

The moral of the story is that as long as you aren't eating an entire head of raw cauliflower, you should be good. More realistically, you might cut back if you're eating large kale salads every day – but only if you're iodine deficient.

There you have it. Are cruciferous veggies kale, broccoli, and cauliflower bad for Hashimoto's? They can be under certain conditions – but those conditions are unlikely. And the benefits of eating veggies like kale, broccoli, and cauliflower much outweigh their small goiterogenic risks.

So go ahead and eat kale and cauliflower rice – just make sure you cook it (if you want)!