A patient came to see me today and told me his dentists told him not to eat broccoli because it would slow his metabolism. He also suggested he eat a blood type diet.
(Insert screaming and tantrum)
First off, why the hell is a dentist giving out dietary advice on weight loss?! I would never make suggestions on what type of toothpaste a patient should use. It is not that I don’t have my preferences in toothpaste. I read some stuff on the internet and I like Tom’s, but I would NEVER tell a patient to use Tom’s because I have NEVER studied the effects of Tom’s on tooth decay.
I also have no experience with thousands of patients using Tom’s so I haven’t seen how well Tom’s works. I only have my pearly whites to go by, ; ). I know better than to use just my personal experience to offer advice on something I am not trained nor experienced in.
Secondly, for the love of God and all that is holy, I challenge this dental expert to share with me even a shred of evidence that broccoli slows metabolism. People are just flat out making stuff up now. What he is alluding to, I presume, is this internet-based belief that cruciferous vegetables cause hypothyroidism. This is complete nonsense, of course. Studies of vegans with high intake of cruciferous vegetables actually have LOWER levels of hypothyroidism. Did you read that??? Vegans have LESS of the disease. The opposite of what is suggested.
This ridiculous myth stems from the fact that cruciferous veggies bind iodine which could cause a drop in thyroid, if you were getting almost no iodine. That is extremely rare in modern world, especially with iodized salt everywhere.
I get so frustrated when a patient tells me their doctor says they are hypothyroid because they eat broccoli. What does the doctor tell the millions of other hypothyroid patients that don’t eat cruciferous veggies?
The last point, the blood type diet, is just icing on this ridiculous, cavity forming, cake. There is science and there is myth, and the blood type diet is a complete and utter MYTH!!!!! We can test this nonsense. It has been done. The diet has no value at all. NONE.
Moral of the story: Don’t get your nutrition advice from your dentists, or podiatrist, or lawyer, or accountant, or . . .