Q: I currently take thyroid hormone. I also eat a great deal of cruciferous veggies — kale, broccoli, cabbage etc. Do these foods interfere with my thyroid meds and do you recommend possibly cutting back on eating them?

A: Cruciferous vegetables which include broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, cauliflower, collard greens, kale, kohlrabi, mustard, rutabaga, turnips and bok choy contain compounds that could interfere with the action of thyroid hormone, according to experts at the Linus Pauling Micronutrient Information Center at Oregon State University. But not when you eat normal amounts of these vegetables, say researchers. In fact, many experts recommend we eat at least five servings of these highly nutritious vegetables each week for their cancer-prevention benefits.

You may only need to cut back on cruciferous vegetables if you eat more than 3 pounds of these foods a day for several months. One woman apparently did that and developed thyroid deficiency.