title: Vegan diets and hypothyroidism.
abstract: Diets eliminating animal products have rarely been associated with hypothyroidism but may protect against autoimmune disease. Thus, we investigated whether risk of hypothyroidism was associated with vegetarian compared to omnivorous dietary patterns. The Adventist Health Study-2 was conducted among church members in North America who provided data in a self-administered questionnaire. Hypothyroidism was queried at baseline in 2002 and at follow-up to 2008. Diet was examined as a determinant of prevalent (n = 4237 of 65,981 [6.4%]) and incident cases (1184 of 41,212 [2.9%]) in multivariate logistic regression models, controlled for demographics and salt use. In the prevalence study, in addition to demographic characterstics, overweight and obesity increased the odds (OR 1.32, 95% CI: 1.22-1.42 and 1.78, 95% CI: 1.64-1.93, respectively). Vegan versus omnivorous diets tended to be associated with reduced risk (OR 0.89, 95% CI: 0.78-1.01, not statistically significant) while a lacto-ovo diet was associated with increased risk (OR 1.09, 95% CI: 1.01-1.18). In the incidence study, female gender, white ethnicity, higher education and BMI were predictors of hypothyroidism. Following a vegan diet tended to be protective (OR 0.78, 95% CI: 0.59-1.03, not statistically significant). In conclusion, a vegan diet tended to be associated with lower, not higher, risk of hypothyroid disease.
authors.affiliation: Department of Health Promotion and Education, School of Public Health, Loma Linda University, Loma Linda, CA 92350, USA. stonstad@llu.edu.
authors.forename: Serena
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Tonstad
authors.forename: Edward
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Nathan
authors.forename: Keiji
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Oda
authors.forename: Gary
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Fraser
mesh_terms: D015992:Body Mass Index; D004032:Diet; D014676:Diet, Vegetarian / Q000009:adverse effects; D004522:Educational Status; D005247:Feeding Behavior; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007037:Hypothyroidism / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology* / Q000517:prevention & control; D015994:Incidence; D016015:Logistic Models; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009656:North America / Q000453:epidemiology; D009765:Obesity / Q000150:complications; D016017:Odds Ratio; D015995:Prevalence; D012067:Religion; D012307:Risk Factors; D012737:Sex Factors; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D044465:White People