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Unless we’re eating seafood – seaweed, shellish or ish – every single day, exactly where do we get our iodine from?
Something missing in your life? It was once thought iodine’s only role was to ensure correct thyroid function. Now we know that it is required for so much more – and deiciency is increasing.
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ACH of our cells needs iodine to function optimally, and insuicient dietary iodine causes many health problems. The World Health Organisation (WHO) established the Recommended Daily Allowance (RDA) for iodine at 150μg in 1924. However, this allowance has not been reassessed since, and unfortunately it does not relect modern indings. In his book, Iodine - Why You Need It. Why You Can’t Live Without It, David Brownstein, MD says that not only are we not eating enough iodine, but that the toxic halides we eat and absorb from our environment inhibit iodine uptake by body tissues. Brownstein adds around 96 percent of the population test poorly for iodine suiciency; we therefore have a problem of epidemic portions. In 2017, we know a lot more about this mineral and how the body uses it. Soil and animal products (eggs, dairy, meat) lack iodine unless the farmer speciically adds it to his land or to animal feed.) We are now exposed to halides, environmental toxins (chlorine, luoride, bromide) and other goitrogens, such as the Brassica vegetables that
interfere with the binding of iodine in the body when eaten raw. While there has been mandatory iodine fortiication of bread in Australia since 2009, many people avoid grains to minimise digestive, immune, and weight issues. Iodised salt is available, but this is primarily a reined, devitalised product which is not good for our general health, so we have reduced or eliminated it, or replaced it with rock or sea salt - which are low in iodine. In short, we are operating on an unrealistic iodine budget which makes us feel generally sluggish more alarmingly, it increases our risk of getting hormone-sensitive cancers (thyroid, breast, ovarian, endometrial, and prostate).
Supplementation to the rescue! Unless we eat a diet plentiful in fresh seafood (farmed salmon excluded), and ensure we steam our Brassica veggies before eating them, then supplementing with iodine is the only practical option. This mineral is vital for correct thyroid functioning and helping to protect us from certain types of cancer, and it is also used to correct a whole plethora of seemingly unrelated health conditions, like ibromyalgia, migraines, and sex-hormone imbalance. Iodine is particularly helpful for women’s health in the following areas: breast health, natural fertility, polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS), irregular and heavy periods, vaginal infections, and low sex drive. It’s important to work with a knowledgeable and experienced heath practitioner to irstly establish an iodine insuiciency through the gold-standard testing procedure (an iodine-loading test). If you’re not careful or if you’re inexperienced in the use of supplemental iodine, you could exacerbate a current health condition, or induce a detoxiication reaction (headaches, fatigue, muscle aches), or experience distress in your body (sweating, feeling nervous, heart palpitations). Lisa Fitzgibbon is a qualiied, experienced and registered naturopath and medical herbalist who runs her own practice, OOMPH, in Grey Lynn, Auckland, NZ. Contact: lisa@oomphhealth.co.nz.
natureandhealth.com.au | 74 | June-July 2018