Star Trek Beyond actress Zoe Saldana has the autoimmune disease Hashimoto’s thyroiditis, she revealed in a recent issue of Net-A-Porter’s magazine The EDIT (linked below) Saldana told the magazine that she focuses on clean eating as a way to help herself stay healthy: “Your body doesn’t have the energy it needs to filter toxins, causing it to believe that it has an infection, so it’s always inflamed. You create antibodies that attack your glands, so you have to eat clean,” she was quoted as saying.
Hashimoto’s thyroiditis, also known as chronic lymphocytic thyroiditis, is a condition where your immune system malfunctions and mistakenly sends antibodies to attack your thyroid gland. This can cause inflammation, which often leads to hypothyroidism—when your thyroid gland is underactive.
Your thyroid gland is super important—as part of your endocrine system, it secretes a thyroid hormone that helps control your metabolism. It plays a huge role in a ton of things, from your digestion to your mood to your energy. Hypothyroidism is when your thyroid gland doesn’t produce enough thyroid hormone, and it can have some pretty nasty side effects: weight gain, sleepiness, cold intolerance, constipation, swelling, decreased heart rate, and heavy periods, to name a few of the symptoms.
The American Thyroid Association estimates that about 20 million people in the U.S. have some type of thyroid disorder, although most people may not even know it. Women are more likely to have a thyroid disorder than men, and it’s estimated that one in eight women will have a thyroid disorder in her lifetime. In fact, Jane The Virgin actress Gina Rodriguez recently revealed that she was diagnosed with hypothyroidism when she was 19, and that it has made it hard for her to lose weight.
As far as treatment goes, most cases of thyroid disorder are treatable with medication, Ruchi Gaba, M.D., an assistant professor of medicine/endocrinology at the Baylor College of Medicine says. Some believe it can be corrected holistically as well. In fact, many Hashimoto’s patients have great success going that route. Eating clean is always a smart idea (regardless of thyroid function), although certain foods and supplements may actually make thyroid disorders worse—the Mayo Clinic suggests talking to your doctor if you eat a high-fiber diet or a lot of soy products, because these foods may interfere with your medication or may exacerbate your thyroid problems.
