Avoiding soy sauce when you have thyroid problems
Posted by kathryn in A Balanced Diet and Q & A Thursday
Next on Q & A Thursday we’re into soy sauce substitutes:
My GP has advised me to avoid soy sauce as I have Hashimoto’s thyroidism (hypothyroidism). Do you know of a substitute for soy sauce? I love to cook stirfries and want to try the Spicy Noodles recipe, but it includes soy sauce. Any recommendations for substitutes?
Why avoid soy?
If you have an underactive thyroid (hypothyroidism) there are a number of foods you should be careful with.
Soy beans, broccoli, cabbage, millet, spinach are all healthy foods. However, they contain substances called goitrogens, which can suppress thyroid function. They interfere with the uptake of iodine, a mineral vital for thyroid function.
There’s a full list of goitrogen containing foods on wikipedia.
Goitrogens can be deactivated through cooking. So you don’t have to avoid these foods. But you do need to cook them before eating.
What about soy sauce?
At the moment it’s unclear if goitrogens survive the soy-sauce-making process and the stir-fry-cooking process. As far as I can tell, nobody has done that research. So it’s probably wise to avoid, or at least limit how much you eat.
Soy sauce alternatives
One of the best soy sauce alternatives is fish sauce. It adds a complex, salty flavour to the dish – much as soy sauce does.
If you’re vegetarian, most Asian grocers also stock a vegetarian “fish” sauce.
I use vegie fish sauce a lot. One of my favourite stir-fry flavourings is:
- 1 tablespoon “fish” sauce
- 1 tablespoon sesame oil
- 1 tablespoon rice wine vinegar
- 1 tablespoon tahini
It makes a rich, thick sauce. I add this in the last minute of cooking, stir it through the vegies and then serve immediately. We have this at least once a week in my house.
What is Q & A Thursday?
This post is part of Q & A Thursday – a fortnightly burst of blogging, where you get to dictate the subject matter. Q & A Thursday is all about simple, practical answers to food and diet dilemmas sent in by readers.
If you have a question you’d like answered, leave a comment below or send me an email. For more information you can take a look at the Q & A Thursday archives.
08 November, 2007
Comments
yum, your stirfry sauce recipe sounds great! might have to try that one.
quick question about your tahini… do you buy it in a jar or do you make your own? i really like tahini but i find it’s one of those ingredients that i never use up in time before it goes bad :(
making our own each time we need some seems to solve that problem but it is more labour intensive of course!
maybe next thursday we could have some tahini ideas/recipes?
Oh I DEFINITELY buy my tahini – it’s never even crossed my mind to make my own! But then I find it a really useful ingredient, so we go through a jar quickly. I will put a post up about tahini Lindsey – that’s a good idea.
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