# Do you understand the importance of iodine?



## Jillaroo (Feb 19, 2014)

Do you understand the importance of iodine?
By Naturopath Margaret Jasinska

Iodine is a non-metallic trace element that is needed by your body in very tiny amounts. Even though your requirement for iodine is small, it is surprisingly difficult to obtain enough of it in your diet. There is a urine test your doctor can order to check if you have sufficient iodine.

Among our patients it is rare to meet a person who isn’t iodine deficient.

You probably know that iodine is required for healthy thyroid gland function. It is actually used to manufacture thyroid hormones; the hormones T4 and T3 contain 4 and 3 molecules of iodine respectively. Therefore if you don’t get enough iodine in your diet, your thyroid gland can become under active and you may feel tired and sluggish. You may be overweight and find it impossible to lose weight.

You may not be aware that iodine has several other important functions in your body. The developing brain of a baby has a very high requirement for iodine and deficiency can cause lowered IQ and impaired hearing. As adults, we also need iodine to help concentration and cognitive function.

Women have a high requirement for iodine because it is necessary for healthy breasts and ovaries. Being deficient in iodine can increase your risk of suffering with cysts on your ovaries or in your breasts. Women with polycystic ovarian syndrome or fibrocystic breast disease greatly benefit from an iodine supplement.

Which foods are high in iodine?

Most of the world’s iodine is found in the oceans; therefore any food that comes from the sea contains iodine. For this reason, fish and other seafood is a good source of iodine, as long as it really does come from the ocean and lives on its traditional diet. Farmed seafood is not as high in iodine. Seaweed is rich in iodine, but not a lot of people eat it regularly.

Ordinary salt does not contain iodine. Sea salt and Himalayan salt contain very small quantities of iodine. If you want to get iodine from salt, you’d have to buy iodised salt. Please make sure it doesn’t contain aluminium though. Nearly every single variety of iodised salt sold in the supermarket contains aluminium. You won’t find the words “This product contains aluminium” on the label. Instead, it will be listed as “anti-caking agent (554)”. Aluminium is added to prevent the salt from clumping together. Please avoid this type of salt. You don’t want to create an aluminium toxicity while trying to fix an iodine deficiency!

You may need to take an iodine supplement

As you can see, not a lot of foods are a rich source of iodine. Even people who use iodised salt typically use salt very sparingly, so they still often don’t obtain enough. Taking an iodine supplement can ensure you’re receiving just the right amount.

Some iodine supplements are far too strong

Recently we are seeing a large number of patients at our clinics who have been buying iodine supplements from health food stores or the internet which are far too potent and potentially harmful. Some people have read about iodine on the internet and decide to take mega dose supplements in an effort to fix their thyroid condition, or as an alternative to prescription thyroid hormones. This does not work and is potentially dangerous.

Taking too much iodine can worsen an under active thyroid, or may cause an over active thyroid or may cause acne. We recommend you keep your iodine intake from supplements below 1000mcg per day. An ideal dose would be around 300 to 500mcg per day. Some research has shown that 47 percent of people taking more than 1000mcg of iodine developed a thyroid problem. Taking an excessively high dose of iodine if you have been iodine deficient for a long time is particularly dangerous. It is really best to take it slow and steady when it comes to iodine supplements.

Taking iodine alone will not fix your thyroid problem

We have found that in most cases, there are several contributing factors that lead to thyroid conditions. Deficiencies of selenium, zinc and vitamin D are also very prevalent and that can impair thyroid function. Also, most thyroid problems are actually caused by autoimmune disease. That means the immune system produces antibodies and inflammatory chemicals that disrupt thyroid hormone levels. We have written about our treatment of thyroid conditions in great detail in the book Your Thyroid Problems Solved.


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## SeaBreeze (Feb 19, 2014)

I have a bottle of Life Flo liquid Iodine Plus Potassium Iodide.  I was taking it after the Fukushima incident, and also bought some potassium iodide pills to have on hand if needed.  I also take Kelp sometimes, a natural form of iodine.  They say if you put iodine on a patch of your body, and it soaks in and disappears quickly, then you were deficient in iodine and your body absorbed it.


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## Jillaroo (Feb 19, 2014)

_I have a feeling i may be deficient of iodine, must get it checked_


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## rkunsaw (Feb 20, 2014)

I've often wondered if those of us on a low salt diet are getting enough iodine. 

I just checked the label on the Morton Sea Salt........Sea Salt, Calcium Silicate, Dextrose and Potassium Iodide.

We use very little of it though. The salt used for canning and fermenting foods does not contain iodine.


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## Katybug (Feb 20, 2014)

My paternal grandmother died from a surgery on a goiter, which you never hear of any more, but was caused by lack of iodine. She died in her early 50's and I never knew her.  So iodine is a big issue with me and I can't stress the importance of it enough -- however you may ingest it.


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## That Guy (Feb 20, 2014)




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## Happyflowerlady (Feb 23, 2014)

*Health benefits of sea salt*

I get the natural sea salt crystals with the sea-minerals in it. I read that table salt scrapes the inside of the arteries, and then our body patches the raw spot with cholesterol, which then causes clogged arteries. however, natural sea salt does not scrape the arteries. I just ad a few of the little chinks to my food if I am making soup, or something where it has time to dissolve, and also use it in my salt grinder when I put it directly on my food.
Here is a fine little article that explains more about the health benefits of natural sea salt.

http://www.health-benefit-of-water.com/sea-salt.html


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## rt3 (Feb 24, 2014)

salt is an ionic material meaning that it will dissolve in water becoming Na and Cl it will not remain in the crystal form in the body regardless of the source. all salt comes from sea sources, the seas may be ancient and no longer thought of as seas because now they are small but none the less. this is necessary because of the concentration of the salt in solute and the recrystallization it must under go to give what you think of as salt.

 most salts today are mined from dead seas, like the Great Salt Lake in utah. get it -- Salt Lake. Ocean type salts with different ratios of minerals or impurtities can add different flavor to the salt. And as mention the stuff added back to the salt is what is bad. Salt mines have existed at least sense the Sumarians and have formed the basis of many ancient trade routes. All salt is natural. anything with carbon in it is organic and natural. I have spent the least 20 years looking for un-natural, salt, peaches, oranges, apples, the term natural is meaningless. I am waiting for a marketer to bring out apples that are so juicy and sweet they will be sold as unaturally good. 

Iodine is in the same group as Bromine , chlorine, except heavier and not as reactive, when combine with hydrogen they form acids, and generally are diatomic in the natural state. None are useful in the diatomic state and the body used them in the ionic state, chloride in salt, and the acid in your stomach, iodide in thyroid, and most supplements are far to strong. Iodine and some iodides can be incorporated into topical creams using DMSO for breast cancer and seeing more use daily.

as mentioned most problems with thyroid are immune related, and far more attention should be paid to glutens in your diet than quatities of iodine. as a side note most problems in the body are autoimmune syndromes.


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## rt3 (Feb 24, 2014)

thyroid glands are not sluggish, or in need of recharge, except the replacement of the drug they make. the person is sluggish and needs recharged from the absence of the active component. Vit D most important role in the body is related to making T3 working better, not calcium absorption, or antioxidant, or anticancer. Selenium's role in the body's use is completely underated as much as iodine is overated.


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## d0ug (Feb 24, 2014)

rt3
You have been doing your home work. Good job


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## GDAD (Mar 1, 2014)

I Know that I am allergic to Iodine!!!!!!!:danger::aargh:


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## d0ug (Mar 2, 2014)

It is impossible to be allergic to a mineral. Protein yes check to see what you are having at the same time you are taking Iodine.


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## rt3 (Mar 2, 2014)

iodine is a halide, not a mineral. some chemists classify it as a non-metallic mineral, but as we are talking health science, they don't get a vote. Halides are very reactive and cause immediate "burns". In there ionic form chloride, iodide, etc. they can cause allergies, and the reason some radiologists ask if you have an iodine allergy prior to using a dye in scanning as most dyes contain iodine. In this case the radiologists are wrong also, because the necessary condition of "hapton" is not shown. 
all ionic forms can be toxic in high enough concentration, bromides used to be put in elixirs as sedatives and flavor additives. Communities with high concentrations of bromides have statistically lower rates of schizophrenia, suicide etc. The bromides act as a competitive inhibitor of chloride slowing the rate of nervous system transmission.


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