Home > Hormone Reset > Are Beets Safe For Your Thyroid?
Hi Dr. C – I read your Hormone Healing Cookbook and wanted to try the recipe for beet cookies. But I have thyroid disease and heard that beets could be a problem for blood sugar. Are they safe for me? – Elizabeth
Hi Elizabeth,
Great question. The short answer is that beets are healthy foods.
The full answer illustrates the complexity of foods being more than the sum of their parts. This blog will give you the full story of the various paradoxes and the benefits of beets.
Enjoy!
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But, I want to dig a bit deeper into it for you. That way, you can learn how researchers came to this conclusion, and why you can still enjoy beets as part of your diet.
The closest thing to an actual risk out there came from one study. This was an isolated, unpublished study, which centered around people who had a history of hormonally-sensitive breast cancer.
It suggested that those same people who consumed unusually high amounts of carrot or beet juice may have a higher rate of developing thyroid nodules (Click Here: What It Means To Have Thyroid Nodules).
However, as I mentioned, this study was isolated, and not reproduced. In fact, it suggested that beets were beneficial in more typical dosages.
So, what’s the situation with beets? Let me start with something of an education.
Beets have something in them called “betaine.” Betaine is an amino acid, an important nutrient that provides essential benefits to your body.
This could be like fighting heart disease or promoting optimal protein synthesis within the body. It can all be done by simply enjoying more beets in your life.
An additional benefit of consuming beets is that they support methylation, which is critical to the overall body as it regulates hormones and provides detoxification.
MTHFR abnormalities are common in nearly 100 percent of autoimmune thyroid disease patients. The appropriate dosage of beets is 1/2 cup in a cooked or juiced form and servings should be 2/3 times per week.
Key Insight: One of my favorite rules when it comes to eating is that the more a certain food can stain your tablecloth or your shirt, the better it is for you! Beets are a great example of that rule and they are really great when it comes to your overall health.
All this talk about beets brings us to a larger topic of discussion for today: nitrates and nitrites.
They may sound similar, and while they are often confused with one another, there is a lot of data suggesting that high amounts of nitrites can correlate with certain risks.
Here’s where you can find nitrates:
On the other hand, you can find nitrites in:
While some out there may assume that nitrates are bad, the list above is anything but. Dietary nitrates may have special benefits when it comes to things like:
I’m often asked if nitrates are an active ingredient in beets. So, is that true?
Well, no, beets are the active ingredient in beets! In cases like these, I believe that it only creates confusion when one tries to equate the effects of whole foods to one constituent.
The same goes for a food like bacon. Just like beets, bacon is the active ingredient in bacon, and not much else. That goes for saturated fat, salt, or nitrites – it’s just bacon.
Most epidemiologic studies that I have seen are clear. Somewhere under 20-30 grams of bacon daily is harmless for most risks. Going above that, though, does raise the risk of stomach and esophageal cancer.
I recently came across a meta-analysis that was written to understand the effects of nitrates and nitrites on the thyroid. Here is what they found (and what I found most interesting):
“Animal studies have mainly confirmed the anti-thyroid effects of nitrate/nitrite, especially in high-extreme doses, a hypothesis not yet confirmed in human studies.
Our meta-analysis of epidemiological surveys showed no significant association between nitrate exposure and the risk of thyroid cancer, hyper- and hypothyroidism, and only a significant association was found between higher exposures to nitrite and the risk of thyroid cancer”
What does this all mean for you? As I said before, in terms of active ingredients, smaller amounts are not harmful because the food itself is not defined by just one piece of the puzzle.
Instead, it’s a larger picture that we need to paint for our whole health. It also means that dietary nitrates may come with some profound health benefits, but it does not mean we need to engage with them in large amounts.
The big takeaway message is that vegetables and foods high in nitrates likely come with health benefits. There is no evidence showing that they are harmful to those with thyroid disease. It’s more likely the opposite!
That said, many lines of evidence have shown that smoked and processed meats, when consumed in amounts above 30 grams per day, can raise the risk of several cancers.
Thyroid cancer may be more probable for those who consume high amounts of dietary nitrites in general. So, it is all about keeping your consumption low.
Bottom Line: Enjoy your beets but go easy on the bacon!
Before we go today, I want to share a recipe for beets to help you start enjoying them confidently.
It’s one of my absolute favorites, and I think it will become a weeknight staple for you and your family.
Here’s my recipe for Cold Potato, Beet, Carrot, and Pea Salad with Dill!
Ingredients:
Directions:
Your thyroid is essential to your health. That’s why it matters to get an accurate read on how it performs and completes the puzzle of your overall health.
Take the Thyroid Quiz today (Click Here: Discover Your Optimal Health) to learn more. I hope it will help you.
P.S. Whenever you are ready, here is how I can help you now:
1. Schedule a Thyroid Second Opinion with me, Dr. C, Click Here for Details
2. Need a Personalized Supplement? Check out My Thyroid Specific Formulations
3. Download and use my Favorite Recipes Cookbook Here
4. Check out my podcast Medical Myths, Legends, and Fairytales Here
Dr. Alan Glen Christianson (Dr. C) is a Naturopathic Endocrinologist and the author of The NY Times bestselling Adrenal Reset Diet, The Metabolism Reset Diet and The Thyroid Reset Diet.
Dr. C’s gift for figuring out what really works has helped hundreds of thousands of people reverse thyroid disease, lose weight, diabetes, and regain energy. Learn more about the surprising story that started his quest.
Dr. Alan Christianson
Alan Christianson is a Naturopathic Medical Doctor (NMD) who is a board-certified Naturopathic Endocrinologist with a focus on thyroid disorders. He is the author of The Metabolism Reset Diet and the New York Times bestselling book The Adrenal Reset Diet.
He founded Integrative Health, a physician group dedicated to helping people with thyroid disease and weight-loss resistance regain their health.
He has been named a Top Doctor in Phoenix magazine and has appeared on national TV shows and in numerous print media.
Dr. Christianson resides in the woods by a lake in Northern Minnesota with his wife Kirin.
