Thyroid cancer is one of the fastest-growing cancer diagnoses worldwide, with 44,670 estimated new cases in the United States alone in 2010, and 1,690 deaths, according to the American Cancer Society. Thyroid cancer patients often have to undergo radiation treatments that require them to follow a low-iodine diet. Although it's only required for a short time, unfortunately the diet can mean having to give up or severely restrict some of your favorite foods, such as chocolate.
Identification
The thyroid is the gland at the base of your throat that manufactures hormones to control your heart rate, blood pressure and metabolism. There are four types of thyroid cancer, and two of those types, papillary and follicular, often require that you undergo a dose of radioactive iodine for two months prior to surgery in an effort to destroy any thyroid cells left in your body. Your doctor will place you on a low-iodine diet one to two weeks before a radioactive iodine scan or treatment to deplete your body's stores of iodine and increase the effectiveness of the procedure. For most low-iodine diets, you'll be restricted to no more than 50 mcg of iodine per day.
Allowed Chocolate
Dairy products can contain 88 to 168 mcg of iodine, with an average of around 115 mcg, which is why dairy is usually excluded from a low-iodine diet. This means that all milk chocolate will also be forbidden. Cocoa powder is a low-iodine food and can be included in your diet, as can certain types of dark chocolate, provided they don't include high-iodine components such as iodized salt, red, orange or brown food coloring, carrageenan, agar-agar, algin, alginate, sulfured or blackstrap molasses. You should also avoid chocolate containing soy products, with the exception of soy lecithin, which is permitted.
Baking Recommendations
The Thyroid Cancer Survivors Association cookbook includes several recipes for products like chocolate zucchini bread, chocolate macaroons, chocolate chip cookies and chocolate meringues. These recipes typically use unsweetened cocoa and some dark or semi-sweet chocolate chips, provided they're free of milk, iodized salt or sea salt and don't use any shortening or margarine containing soy.
Other Chocolate Products
Other chocolate products that may be acceptable, depending upon the ingredients, include commercially-prepared chocolate rice milk or chocolate almond milk, or you can make your own versions at home with plain rice or nut milks and cocoa. Chocolate sorbet would be acceptable if it doesn't contain dairy, as would commercial chocolate meringues. You can also melt some dark or semi-sweet chocolate chips in the microwave and dip strawberries or bananas in the melted chocolate.
References
- Thyroid Cancer Survivors Association; Radioactive Iodine; October 2010
- Linus Pauling Institute; Iodine; Jane Higdon and Victoria J. Drake; 2003 and 2010
- Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center; Low Iodine Diet; 2010
- Thyroid Cancer Canada: Low Iodine Diet
- Thyroid Cancer Survivors Association Cookbook
- American Cancer Society: Thyroid Cancer
