Levothyroxine and food

Posted , 9 users are following.

are there any foods you should not have while taking thyroxine? I have heard that soya should not be eaten, I had a very bad experience when I changed milk for soya milk was the medication to blame.?  I have also read that milk should not be taken as it builds up calcium in the body too much. 

0 likes, 11 replies

11 Replies

  • Posted

    Hi Sarah,

    I know you should wait an hour after you take medication before you eat any food and should always take thryoid meds on an empty stomach as this can affect the absorption.

    A lot of people with thryoid issues are sensitive to gluten (I eliminated gluten from my diet and found by IBS symptoms improved too).

    You're right with soya that can affect thryoid meds. I am also told that you should leave four hours between taking meds and drinking coffee as this can affect them too.

    I'm sure there must be books on this type of tjinh- might be worth going on the thyroid UK website or emailing them for information?

    I too am curious about this subject, but hope this information may help a little x

  • Posted

    Thyroid UK have a great leaflet with a list of food to avoid, I don't have it to hand but I'm sure it's available on their website. One of the things I remember from it is brassicas, which are cabbage, sprouts, broccoli, kale and other foods in that family. You can eat a little but it's best not to have much. They also recommend not drinking too much cow's milk, as these foods are often fed to cows. I like rice milk as an alternative although it's a bit sweet for savoury cooking imo. I think eating beef is fine though.

    You're right about soya not being recommended, and I can second Sayhitocaz's point about gluten - it is structurally similar to a protein in the thyroid and can stimulate the immune system to attack it. I hadn't heard about milk building up too much calcium, I imagine it would depend on how much you were having?

    Hope this helps a bit, and like I said Thyroid UK have much more info.

    • Posted

      Thanks for that info Alice I will look on thryoid UK website for the info as I'm quite curious too smile
    • Posted

      I read that brassicas are ok providing they are cooked. It's a good job as they are one of a very small range of foods I can eat without getting allergy/intolerant symptoms.
    • Posted

      Oh that's reassuring, thank you. Would the cow's milk business still apply though as I imagine they're fed to them raw?
    • Posted

      I've never heard of this reason for not being able to have cow's milk. As far as I know, it is just that people with hypothyroidism are more likely to be intolerant to milk as hypothyroidism is an autoimmune disease and so are allergies and intolerances. Apparently most of the world's adult poulation can't tolerate milk.
    • Posted

      I have had a under active throide for 25 years and never heard off anything you just said interesting through as I drink cows milk and just had my melds cut from 150 aday two 125 
  • Posted

    Hello Sarah:

    Along with the others who aswered here, avoid Gluten and highly processed ready foods.  Watch carbs in the diet.  Also avoid whole milk,  2% is better or as low fat as  possible. Breads -limit them.

    Regards,

    Shelly

  • Posted

    Thanks everyone for your help will take your advice. 
  • Posted

    Some foods are not good for your throide ,I am on 125 off throxine daily and  have Eden for over25 years I tack supplements as my Bp was high 152 /92 however it know runs at 115/68 I tack horthorn ,fish oils ,and say lethasine which does not effect my throide at least I do not think so I was on 150 daily throxine however it's know Been cut two 125 I have lost a lot off weigh it's very hard on throxine to lose weigh But I was 15'9 on the 10 off decemBer know 14' 4 want two get two 13 hope this helps

Report or request deletion

Thanks for your help!

We want the community to be a useful resource for our users but it is important to remember that the community are not moderated or reviewed by doctors and so you should not rely on opinions or advice given by other users in respect of any healthcare matters. Always speak to your doctor before acting and in cases of emergency seek appropriate medical assistance immediately. Use of the community is subject to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy and steps will be taken to remove posts identified as being in breach of those terms.