Sunday, June 16, 2013

omega-6 fats are responsible for "thyroid resistance"

When i first heard of "thyroid resistance" (as compared with that of insulin or leptin, for instance), i thought it might be a made-up malady, just like "restless leg syndrome."  It subsequently occurred to me that it might simply be the perceived lack of function which comes with excessive O6 intake ... because the latter DOES interfere with thyroid receptors.

Googling "linoleic acid interferes with thyroid receptors" will produce a plethora of hits, ranging in credibility from PubMed to jock-blogs.  The concept is neither new nor terribly controversial (though there's always reason to question in-vitro rat studies).  So why do we hear so little about it?  Until i found the concept (buried in an old book review by Chris Masterjohn), the closest i'd come to learning this was reading "saturated fat in the diet is good for thyroid function."  ...I love how so many sites state absolutes like this without any kind of reasoning or discussion....

Considering this, it's no wonder some people feel crappy on a low-carb diet -- they're doing it wrong (and god rest Dr. Atkins, but he told them to).  Yes, i DID just say THEY'RE DOING IT WRONG, and i meant it.  Much as i dislike the blame-the-victim mentality implied by those words, it IS possible that a lot of failure in the LC world has to do with mistakes that can be pure innocence or outrageous stupidity (like getting one's few allowed carbs from CANDY, like one outspoken "anti" did).

We NEED our saturated fats, BECAUSE those seem to be the best choice for thyroid-challenged people in maximizing function.  Monounsaturates are better than polys, but still inhibitive.  And we need fats, in general, because it BOOSTS CALORIE INTAKE, which is GOOD for our thyroid function*!  Learning this, i'm beginning to rethink my strategy in making mayo and other salad dressings.  I love a good olive oil, and ditto for avocado, but hey -- certain things (like well-being) are more important than others.

It becomes important for hypothyroids, even if they're not low-carbers, to avoid omega-6 fats to the best of their ability -- because they're ubiquitous.  EVERY time you dine out, you ARE getting linoleic acid, no matter what you eat.  It's in your meat, your eggs, your cheese, your fish, your coffee-creamer, your vegetables, your ice-cream and ronaldmcdonald only knows what else!  In our beloved grass-fed beef and lamb, it still comprises a significant amount of the fat involved, though in better proportion than in CAFO meat ... and there's also a goodly amount of thyroid-inhibiting monounsaturates in there.  Among our best friends, ironically, are the fruit-based oils such as coconut and red palm, and palm-kernel (SEED!), and their artificially-isolated cousin, MCT.

Eating a low-carb diet is soothing to a hypothyroid, because the less dietary glucose we have to dispose of, the farther our limited supply of hormone will go.  People who claim that it's "stressful" to us aren't looking at the big picture.  However, we absolutely positively MUST do it correctly, by minimizing disruptive poly- and monounsaturated fats, and maximizing all those heart-healthy SATURATED fats we've come to love!

(And by getting our allowed carbohydrate intake from a garnish of low-starch, low-fructose, low-toxin vegetables instead of from a chocolate box.)

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*  nothing seems to inhibit even normal thyroid function like calorie-restriction!

12 comments:

  1. This might be a problem with my mom. My parents don't buy anything that isn't in a box, bag or jar. IIRC, Phinney & Volek found the same thing--feeling ill eating a lot of mayonnaise or somesuch.

    Sure, you can do a low carb diet wrong. With all the advice pollution out there making you think you need to avoid salt and fat, it's hard to do it right without guidance.

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    1. "advice pollution" -- great term! but yeah, think how long it took some of us to tailor LC to our own needs; a lot of people would have given up before they reached our point.

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  2. (good post btw)
    My first attempt @ homemade mayo was with bacon grease...good idea I think but making mayo is tricky and it didn't emulsify right, ended up kind weird. Might try again some day, when I have more energy and patience. I love the idea of bacon mayo-

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    1. thank you, Kim! baconnaise -- YUM! :-) yeah, when i made it i used half olive oil, and put IT in first to get the emulsion going right, then later when it's possible to add the oil faster, i put the melted-but-cooled bacon grease in. it turned out kinda "heavy" but the taste was good -- perfect for a tomatoey salad!

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  3. "think how long it took some of us to tailor LC to our own needs"

    It took me five days to go from limb losing HbA1c numbers to non diabetic. I've never looked back !

    Kind regards Eddie

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    1. how anybody can say that LC is boring and impossible to stick to ... it's just inconceivable to me! but then again, i was always a steak girl. ;-)

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  4. Tess, I plan to attempt a coconut-based mayo when I come back to Florida. It is liquid at the roome temperature if the room which is inside the house which is in the Southern state like Florida. May be it is reasonable to add some olive oil to the coconut oil, I don't know.

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    1. I've made mayo with half coconut and half olive, and it got pretty firm in the fridge but still spreadable. It's delicious in chicken salad!

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    2. Thank you,Tess, for the report of your experience, well your climate it rather hot as well.

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    3. :-) St. Louis is definitely in the "four season including" belt -- we can have pretty cold winters, pretty hot summers, and beautiful springs and autumns.

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  5. Great post, Tess.
    I guess there really are some legitimate ways to screw up a low carb diet: insufficient saturated fat, excessive n6's, too few calories... but then again, those things would screw up any diet.

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    1. Thank you, Bill! :-) seems like every time i turn around there's a new area to tweak, but thanks to a lot of folks reading and experimenting and reporting, i feel we've made lots of strides!

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