Raw cruciferous vegetables: how much is too much?
Overdosing on Greens
4.2/5 - (84 votes)
Below is an approximation of this video’s audio content. To see any graphs, charts, graphics, images, and quotes to which Dr. Greger may be referring, watch the above video.
From the healthiest beverage to the healthiest food: dark green leafy vegetables—cruciferous vegetables; cabbage family vegetables, like broccoli, Brussels sprouts, collards, kale. How could one possibly eat too much kale?
Well, there are natural goitrogenic compounds in this family of vegetables that can interfere with thyroid function in people with marginal iodine intake. They can block the thyroid’s uptake of iodine. But the answer is not to avoid these super healthy foods, just to get enough iodine in our diet, as I’ve detailed in past volumes. Still, though, you can overdo anything.
How much is too much? I specify raw here, because an enzyme that releases these compounds is deactivated by cooking. So you don’t have to worry about eating cooked cruciferous.
But how much raw is too much? How many cups of coleslaw a day is too much, for example? Five cups a day? 10? 15? 20? Or can you go up to 25 cups of coleslaw a day, every day, for months at a time?
The New England Journal of Medicine: coma induced by raw bok choy. She was eating about three pounds a day, every day, which means 15 cups a day is definitely too much. In the two months before she was admitted to the intensive care unit in respiratory failure, she had consumed about 1,000 cups of raw bok choy.
Now each cruciferous vegetable has a different amount of these compounds, so you could probably get away with, theoretically, 50 (five zero) cups of raw cauliflower a day. But just three cups of raw mustard greens a day is too much.
Please consider volunteering to help out on the site.
Below is an approximation of this video’s audio content. To see any graphs, charts, graphics, images, and quotes to which Dr. Greger may be referring, watch the above video.
From the healthiest beverage to the healthiest food: dark green leafy vegetables—cruciferous vegetables; cabbage family vegetables, like broccoli, Brussels sprouts, collards, kale. How could one possibly eat too much kale?
Well, there are natural goitrogenic compounds in this family of vegetables that can interfere with thyroid function in people with marginal iodine intake. They can block the thyroid’s uptake of iodine. But the answer is not to avoid these super healthy foods, just to get enough iodine in our diet, as I’ve detailed in past volumes. Still, though, you can overdo anything.
How much is too much? I specify raw here, because an enzyme that releases these compounds is deactivated by cooking. So you don’t have to worry about eating cooked cruciferous.
But how much raw is too much? How many cups of coleslaw a day is too much, for example? Five cups a day? 10? 15? 20? Or can you go up to 25 cups of coleslaw a day, every day, for months at a time?
The New England Journal of Medicine: coma induced by raw bok choy. She was eating about three pounds a day, every day, which means 15 cups a day is definitely too much. In the two months before she was admitted to the intensive care unit in respiratory failure, she had consumed about 1,000 cups of raw bok choy.
Now each cruciferous vegetable has a different amount of these compounds, so you could probably get away with, theoretically, 50 (five zero) cups of raw cauliflower a day. But just three cups of raw mustard greens a day is too much.
Please consider volunteering to help out on the site.
Republishing "Overdosing on Greens"
Terms
You may republish this material online or in print under our Creative Commons licence. You must attribute the article to NutritionFacts.org with a link back to our website in your republication.
If any changes are made to the original text or video, you must indicate, reasonably, what has changed about the article or video.
You may not use our material for commercial purposes.
You may not apply legal terms or technological measures that restrict others from doing anything permitted here.
If you have any questions, please Contact Us
Title
Overdosing on Greens
LicenseCreative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0)
Content URLDoctor's Note
Check out these videos for more on cruciferous vegetables:
Prolonged Liver Function Enhancement from Broccoli
The Broccoli Receptor: Our First Line of Defense
Counteracting the Effects of Dioxins Through Diet
And check out my other videos on greens.
For more context, also see my associated blog posts: The Best Detox; Broccoli Boosts Liver Detox Enzymes; and Nutmeg Toxicity.
If you haven't yet, you can subscribe to our free newsletter. With your subscription, you'll also get notifications for just-released blogs and videos. Check out our information page about our translated resources.
Previous Video
Next Video
