Can Your Burgers Be A Thyroid Hazard? Could your hyperthyroidism be caused by eating hamburgers?
Hyperthyroidism is the result of an excessive production of thyroid hormone, which causes an overactive metabolism and a greater speed of all the processes of the body.
Thyroid hormone generally controls the rhythm of all processes in the body. This rhythm is called your metabolism. If there is too much thyroid hormone, all the functions of the body tend to speed up. The thyroid gland regulates body temperature by secreting two hormones that control how quickly the body burns calories and energy. If the thyroid produces too much hormone, the condition is called hyperthyroidism, but if too little is produced, the result is hypothyroidism.
Thyroid hormones are active orally, which means that consumption of thyroid gland tissue can cause thyrotoxicosis, a type of hyperthyroidism. Several outbreaks of thyrotoxicosis have been attributed to a practice, now banned in the US, called “cutting the esophagus,” in which meat from the neck region of slaughtered animals is ground into a hamburger shape. Because the thyroid glands are reddish in color and located in the neck, it is not unusual for esophageal cutters to insert the thyroid glands into hamburgers or hot dogs.
People, and presumably pets, who eat such a burger can receive a dose of thyroid hormone sufficient to induce disease.
Interestingly, community-wide outbreaks of thyrotoxicosis were caused by ingestion of cow thyroid in ground beef in Minnesota, South Dakota, and Iowa in 1984 and 1985. These outbreaks resulted in the prohibition of cutting the esophagus in all plants that slaughter cattle and pigs. When unexplained thyrotoxicosis occurs, the possibility of exposure to the animal thyroid should be considered, through access to meat from slaughtered farm animals or game.
Simply put, be careful what you eat, because this may be the cause of your hyperthyroidism, not just Graves’ disease.