[ogfarmer]

Everyone is on the Green Tea weight loss kick well I found out it has too much floride in it so if you have hypothyroidism you shouldn't be drinking it. It robs the calcium from you too the article says.
Google Green+Tea+Hypothyrodism there are many articles. I avoid toothpaste with floride in it too.

[Suzanne 3FC]

I've never heard this before. They specifically mention the fluoride content in green tea and a possible issue between fluoride consumption and true hypothyroidism. (I'm still looking for published studies on this)

I found that fluoride accumulation in tea leaves is strongest in the older leaves. White tea is made from the newest leaves and buds from the plant and contains virtually no fluoride, and retains antioxidant levels.

So drink white tea if you have concerns Oolong tea tested at about half the fluoride content of green.

For the record, this will have no impact on the vast majority of people out there. Green tea has been shown to help weight loss in published studies, though the results were not really impressive

I wouldn't give it up unless your doctor advises you to. Among many other benefits, drinking 3 cups of tea daily has been associated with an 11% reduction in heart attacks

[ogfarmer]

Thyroid Disease Why We Changed Our Minds About Water Fluoridation
The Fluoride/Thyroid Connection
From Richard L. Shames MD & Karilee H. Shames PhD, RN, for About com
Updated: April 27, 2006

About.com Health's Disease and Condition content is reviewed by our Medical Review Board

Like many of our professional colleagues, we long held a belief that the practice of water fluoridation was highly beneficial and relatively low-risk. Currently, we feel otherwise. We are now convinced that it is of small benefit, and carries an unacceptably large risk.
What changed our thinking so dramatically on this important issue? While reviewing medical studies for a new book, we were shocked to learn about the disturbing fluoride-thyroid connection.

We had been a prevention-oriented doctor-nurse team working together for twenty-five years. We had raised three children together, and had always viewed good dental care as an integral part of a complete health program. After training at Harvard and Walter Reed respectively, Rich worked at the National Institutes of Health and Karilee served as a nursing professor, before we each eventually settled into private practice.

Nothing on this path shook our faith in fluoride. In fact, it was not until we were working with a New York publisher that we really did our homework on this subject. The topic of our book, Thyroid Power (HarperCollins 2001), was the unexplained skyrocketing of thyroid disease and its spin-off epidemics of fatigue, depression, anxiety, infertility, and overweight.

While researching influences on the thyroid gland, we were astounded by the large number of fluoride citations. We were confronted with long lists of articles, from scientists around the world, reporting in medical journals about the harmful effects of fluoride.

We then did a review of the history of thyroid treatment, which showed that fluoride had previously been used by the medical profession to deliberately slow down overactive thyroid glands. It is no longer used for that purpose, only because now there are stronger anti-thyroid drugs [like Tapazole and PTU].

This surprising data was at first an unexpected challenge to our medical and nursing education. But then we recalled being taught that no substance has just one action on the human body. They all have multiple actions. Every medicine has a good action, called “the benefit,” and other less desirable actions called “side effects.”

In hindsight, it did seem odd that fluoridated water was the only substance ever discovered that had a great benefit with no side effects at all. Once we thought about it carefully, it also seemed curious that fluoride was the only medicine ever to be added to public drinking waters.

At this point, we felt compelled to investigate further. After reviewing hundreds of articles and books, it became clear that, regardless of any other benefits and side effects, fluoride could indeed be considered a “hormone disruptor.” These are a class of chemicals from many unrelated sources, that have the unintended consequence of altering the proper function of important hormones in the body, such as thyroid.

For example, in the Archives of Oral Biology (1982, Volume 27), Kleiner found that fluoride interfered with proper metabolism of cyclic-AMP and thus diminished cellular energy.

Next, a career university scientist showed us a large textbook about the mechanisms of fluoride tissue harm. Kenneth Kirk in his carefully written volume called Biochemistry of the Elemental Halogens and Inorganic Halides (Plenum Press NY, NY: 1991), described fluoride’s remarkable disruption of enzyme systems.

We then consulted with a toxicology expert, who explained still another harmful fluoride effect. It progressively disrupts the sensitive G-proteins. These are the building blocks of our body’s hormone receptors. (For example, receptors are where thyroid hormone actually starts doing its job at the cell level.)

But at what dilution did fluoride have this disruptive effect? At high concentrations, it is well known to be acutely poisonous and caustic. Could it be that at the low concentrations in municipal water, teeth are being helped without thyroids being harmed?

No, the data showed otherwise. Contradicting the hoped-for scenario is research going back half a century. For instance, we came across a 1958 study by Galletti and Joyet, published in the prestigious Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism. The paper was titled, “Effect of Fluorine on Thyroidal Iodine Metabolism and Hyperthyroidism.” These scientists showed that fluoride in the range of 2-5 mg. per day (what people now ingest in a fluoridated area) was enough to slow down thyroid function.


Subsequent research on fluoride/thyroid was just as worrisome. Moreover, an added problem appeared. We learned that the source of fluoride for municipalities is not sodium fluoride, the compound used by researchers to determine benefit versus risk. Instead, surprisingly, we found that what is added to almost all city water when it is fluoridated is the industrial waste product hydrofluosilicic acid.
This scrubber waste item, generally from phosphate fertilizer production, is frequently contaminated with varying amounts of cadmium, aluminum, arsenic, lead, or mercury. We found serious studies showing that minute amounts of these heavy metals (much less than would generally be considered toxic) are harmful in various ways when combined with fluoride. Moreover, we were amazed to find out that not a single safety test has ever been performed on hydrofluocilicic acid!

Thus, we came out “against fluoride” in our Thyroid Power book. But fluoride is not simply an isolated problem for identified thyroid patients. As a widespread hormone disruptor it is very likely to be causing wider mischief, even at supposed safe levels.

This larger environmental issue became the topic of our more recent book, Feeling Fat, Fuzzy, or Frazzled? (Hudson/Penquin, 2005) With fluoride added to city water, many millions of people are deliberately exposed to a hormone-altering agent. There is certainly now a massive epidemic of low thyroid, low adrenal, and low functioning sex glands. Many people rightly complain, “There must be something wrong with my hormones.”

Fluoride is, of course, just one of a great many environmental hormone disruptors. However, it is the only one we purposely put into our drinking water. Perhaps the most sensitive among us are like the canaries brought down into the mines. They might be feeling the adverse effects first. Their vague symptoms of ill health could be the early warning signal for us all.

But, do not just take our word for it. Get info from a variety of sources. A good start would be to go to the environmental website CanaryClub for an inexpensive home test kit measuring your saliva levels of thyroid, adrenal, and reproductive hormones.

If your levels are low, it could be that the not-so-innocent water additive is playing a role. You might be as surprised as we were. And maybe you too will change your mind about fluoride.

Richard L. Shames MD & Karilee H. Shames PhD, RN are authors of two popular books for thyroid patients, Thyroid Power2 and Feeling Fat, Fuzzy and Frazzled?3. Both experts provide telephone coaching for optimal wellness. More information is available about their coaching sessions4 at their site.

[ogfarmer]

Green tea may be helpful to those suffering from hypothyroidism, but get it wrong and it might work against you.

Hypothyroidism is caused by an underactive thyroid.

It occurs when the thyroid gland does not make enough thyroxine, causing many of the body's functions to slow down.

According to Patient UK, common symptoms of hypothyroidism include tiredness, weight gain, constipation, aches and pains, feeling cold, dry skin, lifeless hair, fluid retention, mental slowing, and depression.

There are no scientific studies on green tea extract and hypothyroidism.

But green tea contains catechins and caffeine. Scientific studies have found that they increase metabolism and burn fat.

There may be some truths about the benefits of green tea extract and hypothyroidism, but beware of green tea that contains too much fluoride.

According to the United States National Research Council, "several lines of information indicate an effect of fluoride exposure on thyroid function."

Fluoride and Hypothyroidism

The Fluoride Action Network explained:

Fluoride's potential to impair thyroid function is perhaps best illustrated by the fact that - up until the 1970s - European doctors used fluoride as a thyroid-suppressing medication for patients with HYPER-thyroidism (over-active thyroid).

Fluoride was utilized because it was found to be effective at reducing the activity of the thyroid gland - even at doses as low as 2 milligrams/day.

Now, this is controversial.

In the United States, an individual drinking 2 litres of fluid a day can consume as much as 8 milligrams of fluoride a day.

Perhaps this explains why the drug Synthroid, which is used to treat hypothyroidism, is now one of the top 5 prescribed drugs in the United States?

Green Tea and Fluoride

Tea plants accumulate fluoride from soil and water.

The older the leaves, the more fluoride it contains. According to some sources, mature, old leaves can contain 10 to 20 times more fluoride than young leaves of the same tea plant.

Youngest leaves are the highest quality. Green tea extract is usually made from the lowest grade leaves that are older and more mature.

It is important to purchase green tea extract from reputable manufacturers who undergo stringent testing of its chemical make-up.

If you are consuming green tea extract, follow the instruction from the manufacturer and do not overdose.

Read Fluoride in Green Tea for further tips.

References

Patient UK. Hypothyroidism. can't post URL

Fluoride Action Network Health Effects.. Summation - Fluoride & the Thyroid. can't post URL

[ogfarmer]

Enough said choose for yourself and ask your doctor.

Why Green Tea Would be Healthy EXCEPT for This One Dangerous Issue
by SixWise.com



Green tea has emerged as a major natural player in fighting diseases like heart disease and cancer and helping with weight loss. Many people sip it religiously everyday in the hopes that it will make them healthier. Here is just a short list of some of the conditions green tea is supposed to help:

Cancer
Rheumatoid arthritis
High cholesterol levels
Heart disease
Infection
Impaired immune function
Obesity, overweight
High blood sugar levels


It's true that green tea contains health-boosting antioxidants, but can they make up for the high levels of fluoride?

And, in fact, green tea would be healthy-largely because it's a rich source of catechin polyphenols, namely epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG), which is a potent antioxidant-except for one glaring issue: Green tea contains large amounts of fluoride. Black tea also contains fluoride, but the amount in green tea is about double that in black tea. A study in the January 2005 issue of the Journal of American Medicine also found that instant teas appear to contain excessive levels of fluoride.

How Does Fluoride Get Into Tea?

"The tea plant is known to accumulate fluoride from the soil and water," says Michael Whyte, M.D., professor of medicine, pediatrics and genetics. "We don't know how much variation there is from brand to brand and year to year."

Is Fluoride Harmful?

Drinking high levels of fluoride can cause bone-forming cells to lay down extra skeletal tissue, which increases bone density. At the same time, it also increases bone brittleness that can result in a disease known as skeletal fluorosis. So while bones are more dense, they are also more brittle. Skeletal fluorosis can produce:

Bone, muscle and joint pain
Calcification of ligaments
Bone spurs
Fused vertebrae
Difficulty moving joints
Says Dr. Whyte, "When fluoride gets into your bones, it stays there for years, and there is no established treatment for skeletal fluorosis, No one knows if you can fully recover from it." In other words, fluoride accumulates in your body.



Skeletal fluorosis, which has crippled the man above, is caused by consuming high levels of fluoride.

And according to one estimate, the first phase of skeletal fluorosis could easily develop in as few as five years if a person were to consume the amount of fluoride found in three or four cups of green tea every day. That's because studies have shown that most green teas have more fluoride than the EPA's safe limit for drinking water, which is 4 parts per million (ppm).

Fluoride can also affect the thyroid. Specifically, it suppresses thyroid function, leading to hypothyroidism. This is a well-known fact, as, ironically, the amount of fluoride in a typical cup of tea is actually much higher than amounts that were used decades ago as medication for hyperthyroidism, to reduce thyroid activity.

Fluoride, Fluoride Everywhere

Perhaps the tea on its own would not be as much of an issue if Americans weren't already exposed to fluoride from other sources, but this isn't the case. Americans get fluoride from fluoridated water (which is also likely used to steep the tea), toothpastes, Teflon-coated cookware, some wines and sparkling mineral waters and chewing tobacco.

Even so, British and African studies conducted in the 1990s have found that some people are drinking between 5.8 ppm and 9 ppm of fluoride everyday from tea alone! Remember that the EPA's safe limit for drinking water is 4 ppm.

Fluoride Together With Aluminum?

Another issue? The fluoride in tea exists along with aluminum. When these two compounds are combined it can actually increase the potential toxicity of fluoride, especially in relation to neurological and renal damage, and increases the extent to which aluminum can be absorbed by the body, which has been linked to Alzheimer's disease.

One Final Thought ...

As an aside, it's also been found that green tea can contain high levels of the pesticide DDT and a similar one called Dursba. So, if you do choose to drink green tea, you may be better off buying organic. This won't affect the fluoride content, but at least you will be spared drinking pesticides in your cup of tea.