You are Hypothyroid and Chlorine, Fluoride and Rocket fuel Could be in Your Water
If you suffer from hypothyroidism and you are on a hypothyroidism diet you need to pay attention for the next few minutes. The consequences of what I’m about to tell you are serious.
The very water that comes out of your tap in your own home may be doing damage to your thyroid. There are chemicals present in your drinking water that have been shown to do damage to the thyroid gland indicating a connection to being hypothyroid and chlorine in the water you consume. Two of them we take for granted and are aware of but the third compound will surprise you. But the effects of how your thyroid functions can be equally devastating.
Hypothyroid and Chlorine in Your Everyday Life
First on the list is chlorine. Added as a disinfectant to kill bacteria, chlorine can and has been keeping people from getting sick due to water borne pathogens. But, there again, chlorine can cause issues within the human body when consumed. You see, chlorine is a poison plain and simple otherwise it wouldn’t be able to do it’s job on the water supply. Sometimes too much chlorine can get into the water we drink and cause serious health issues not the least of which is the damage that can be done to the thyroid. Chlorine may or may not be directly responsible for damaging the thyroid gland but when chlorine reacts with other agents in the water, toxins get produced that may be responsible for interfering with the thyroid’s processes.
Healthy Teeth?
The next one that we all know of is fluoride. Fluoride was added to the water supply in the 1940s as a preventative measure to help reduce cavities in children and adults. But recent studies have shown that fluoridated water has had adverse effects on the thyroid gland. People affected most are thyroid patients, people with diabetes or people who have kidney problems.
Would you like some ‘Rocket Fuel’ with your Water?
Last but not least, you may even be drinking rocket fuel. Perchlorate, a component of rocket fuel, has been attributed to thyroid issues in pregnant women, little kids and babies all across this country. Perchlorate can occur naturally but the main culprit is via contamination from improper disposal of this highly dangerous chemical.
With this in mind you may want to think twice about drinking your tap water or even cooking with it until you can filtered it. There are a number of different kinds of water filtration systems that could be effective in removing most if not all of these contaminates. They range from the Brita pitcher style filters to the reverse osmosis filters that mount into your home’s water supply. When deciding which filter to purchase you should make sure that it filters out at least these compounds.
If you’re on a hypothyroid diet you should take special care while dieting since the very water that you’re drinking and cooking with may very well be the source of your problems.
Hi, I find your site very helpful, Does it make any difference if the water is boiled first?
That’s a very good question. I filter my drinking water through a Britta.
At this point I don’t know whether or not there have been any scientific studies done on boiling goitrogens out of your water but I do know that you can cook a good amount of them out of your vegitables.
Hi, I have the same question as Dianne and Cindy. Does simply boiling the water take away the effects of these three additives?
Hi, I have worked in third world drinking water treatment for 7 years. If you have the time and patience and money, reverse osmosis will likely remove many of the problem chemicals (fluoride and chlorine especially).
Check out household systems, or if too expensive, counter top mini systems by Nimbus water (California) can help.
Boiling wont really solve the problem. It needs to be treated physically and by adsorption (both happen in a reverse osmosis system).
If you can afford it this is the best option. Although you need to set thefilter up to make water for a few hours as it produces more waste water than clean water.
Hope this helps
Andrew
NO! Boiling will not remove them at all unless you are talking about collecting the steam (distilling). The only way to remove all contaminants from tap water is to distill and filter it. There are filtration systems which do both available.
I don’t think the Brita filters Flouride. It does filter Chlorine. I have looked into this because I have hypothyroidism. I also believe in drinking free tap water so this is a struggle for me trying to decide whether to switch to something else……
Thank you for the information on drinking water treatment Andrew.
from this point on i sugjest that you ether filter your water,or gather it from fruits by boiling it out or just eating it
We use a PUR 2 stage filter, and it seems I recall this filtering out fluoride, too. I am going to some more research on the perchlorate, because I live in southern California, and we have the worse water in the country, I think. I cannot drink it, it tastes so bad.
Helen,
I use a PUR filter on my tap as well. Not sure if it’s a stage 2 or 3 if they have one. I just know that the water tastes so much better and is clearer. Who really knows what runs through pipes that have been underground for long periods of time?
Helen,
This is a great question.
The amazing thing about a woman’s body is that it automatically makes necessary adjustments to your hormone levels in order to support the creation of a new life. (According to what I was told by my Dr. when I was pregnant with my daughter) Any test results that you get from your Dr. should be accurate for the time period when the test was conducted. When a woman with hypothyroidism is pregnant the doctor should be testing those thyroid levels every month during your prenatal appointments because they can change depending on your illness. After you deliver and get through the postpartum stage your thyroid levels along with all other hormone levels will probably then go back to where before you got pregnant but even that’s hard to tell too. The main thing is that what ever those test results are should be where your levels currently are unless they make a mistake in the lab. Always keep contact with your doctor if you have questions they should answer those questions for you.