Iodine

A complex mineral with multiple actions in the body, many of which are critical to your health. So how do you know if you have enough, and what do you do if you don’t? In this article we’re also going to cover what iodine does for you, and symptoms of deficiency. Settle in for a read.

Here in New Zealand, we have low iodine in our soils, so even a healthy diet may not bring you enough of this essential nutrient, unless you regularly consume fish, shellfish and seaweeds (remembering that we need iodine every day).

Not getting enough each day can negatively affect your thyroid gland, muscles, heart, liver, kidneys and brain - a state known as Iodine Deficiency Disorders (IDD). Thyroid hormones cannot be made without iodine, and this gland has a critical role to play in regulating your metabolism.

How do you know if you are low in iodine? For us, in the preventive medicine space, we’d really rather not see you in a state where iodine deficiency is affecting your organs as per the symptoms list below. Living in NZ is almost reason enough to get tested!

What are the testing options?

1. A urine iodine loading test. This is a spot or 24 hour urine collection (so you have to be home for the day) that technically gives information on how much iodine you are absorbing vs excreting after taking an iodine dose. The issue with this is it is purported to be only about 20% accurate - not accurate enough in our book.

2. A blood test: simple and accurate. We offer this via our clinic, and you may also be able to ask your GP to do this for you.

3. A thorough thyroid assessment is an essential component of iodine testing. We test your TSH (thyroid stimulating hormone); T3 (thyroxine); Anti-TPO (thyroid peroxidase, if autoimmunity is suspected) and sometimes reverse T3 also.

Here are just some of the main symptoms of iodine deficiency:

• Swelling of thyroid glands in the neck (sometimes visible, sometimes you need a medical professional to assess for you).

• Weight gain

• Fatigue and muscular weakness

• Thinning hair

• Dry skin - drier than usual

• Feeling colder than usual

• Slowed heart rate

• Learning and memory difficulties - difficulty retaining information and recalling it

So what do you do if you don’t have enough iodine? While dietary support is always our first approach, in the case of iodine deficiency, in countries such as New Zealand, this can be very difficult, a) because eating seafood every day is impractical and costly b) because we can’t measure how much you are getting via food sources, and often the need to correct this deficiency is immediate c) supplementation - there is weight behind this approach, at least initially, with follow-up testing to ensure we are on the right track.

Picking iodine deficiency up early for our kids can change their lives - their energy and learning capacity can improve dramatically.

Talk with us if you’d like to have an iodine assessment done, or complete our thyroid questionnaire. We’d love to help.

ask@healhealth.co.nz or fill in our contact form on this site.

Note: Take great care when considering iodine supplementation if you have symptoms of over-active thyroid, or a family history of this.