Sarah’s Health Notes: the importance of iodine
I was blithely reading a press release about seaweed – indisputably A Good Thing – which suggested I did an online test to see if I was iodine deficient based on intake of various foods that contain iodine naturally: milk, yogurt, cheese, fish & seafood, and eggs. I eat a fair amount of all of those food groups but – to my amazement – the results flagged up, in shouty red, that ‘It is likely you are not getting enough iodine in your diet’.
In fact, when I read it more carefully the test estimated I had a daily iodine intake of 140 micrograms (µg) and then told me that 150µg is the required daily amount. So my fret level went from quite high to pretty low but my interest was piqued.
Deficiency of iodine has been called Britain’s hidden nutrition crisis. It’s an essential trace mineral, not made by the body so you have to get it from food or supplements. Iodine is necessary to help make thyroid hormones, which help keep cells healthy and regulates metabolism – the conversion of energy from food into energy that helps cells function and grow.
Iodine deficiency is dangerous in pregnant women and infants, possibly leading to miscarriage and stillbirth in mothers, with stunted growth and cognitive difficulties in their babies.
In adults, a serious iodine deficiency can lead to hypothyroidism, affecting heart rate, body temperature and body weight, also symptoms including fatigue, constipation, and dry skin and hair. Hypothyroidism is linked to the development of a large goitre – in fact an enlarged thyroid, which used to be common in various regions of the UK where iodine deficiency was rife.
It’s also now believed that mild to moderate iodine deficiency may also pose a problem for health, particularly for the development of babies in the womb.
The NHS says that adults need 140 µg daily although the RDA in America is 150µg but pregnant and lactating women need 220 µg and 290 µg respectively.
The increase in vegetarian and vegan diets may add to the likelihood of deficiency as non-dairy alternatives including soya, almond, coconut, oat, rice, hazelnut and hemp have negligible or no iodine content and are not necessarily fortified.
Professor Margaret Rayman, an expert in nutritional medicine at the University of Surrey which carried out a study looking at 44 non-fortified milk-alternative drinks that revealed iodine concentrations of under 2% that found in semi-skimmed cows milk (not organic), commented: ‘Many people are unaware of the need for this vital dietary mineral and it is important that people who consume milk-alternative drinks realise that they will not be replacing the iodine from cows’ milk which is the main UK source of iodine’.
Worldwide, many people get iodine from iodised salt but since this is not mandated in the UK, unlike other countries, there is low availability and take-up, as the Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition points out in their Statement on Iodine and Health, Feb 2014.
If your intake of foods that contain iodine is low you might want to consider a supplement such as Lamberts Iodine 150µg /£7.50 for 180 tablets. The directions say take 1 to 2 daily but pharmacist Shabir Daya points out that you never get 100% absorption from an oral supplements so you might want to take two.
Alternatively, you could chomp on lots of sea vegetables or take a supplement such as Pure Seaweed /£19.95 for two months supply of organic Scottish seaweed, containing 350µg iodine in each daily capsule. That should mean you get an optimal RDA.
