Hi Everyone!
Recently, Ive been reading about the importance of the thyroid gland for an active metabolism and BMR. And it seems that the most important source to help your thyroid gland is iodine. I always use a minimum amount of salt in my meals, and I am concerned that I am not getting sufficient amounts of iodine. But I have been told that iodine is also present in other food sources like seaweed.
Does anyone think that it is important to increase one's iodine intake... that it will significantly improve one's metabolism... or is this a another weight loss fad?
Thanx!:)
iodine doesn't necessarily increase your metabolism. But it does help the conversion to active thyroid hormone.
Chances are you are getting enough, so I wouldn't worry about it.
I take that.
There is no 'natural' remedy. The question of treatment comes down to either synthroid or armour. Synthroid is T4, while Armour is both T3 and T4 (and is technically more 'natural' since it is actually pig thyroid gland itself). Different people find different effects of each treatment..doctors generally prescribe synthroid rather than armour for a host of reasons that get pretty complicated. But, suffice it to say, you need something. Give it a try and see how your symptoms are managed.
At the risk of sounding like an armchair expert (which I am not although I am hypothyroid), I've looked up some facts for you.
The thyroid gland has the only cells in the body capable of absorbing iodine which it then converts into the T3 and T4 hormones. The amount of hormones produced by the thyroid gland is determined by the pituitary gland. The hypothalamus is a part of our brain which emits a hormone known as TRH. When TRH is released, this triggers the pituitary gland to produce a thyroid stimulating hormone known as TSH and so the thyroid gland is encouraged and prompted to created the T3 and T4 hormones. This is how everything is supposed to work.
Thyroid disease is almost always caused by an autoimmune disease - Hashimoto or Graves’ diseases being the most prevalent. There are many causes of Thyroid disease other than a lack of iodine. Indeed, persons who consume excess quantities of supplemental iodine, kelp, etc. are actually increasing their risk of developing a thyroid disease. A balance must be maintained. Our North American diet contains more than enough iodine and supplementing it should not be necessary unless you live in the Midwestern states which apparently have less iodine in the soil thus depleting an individual’s intake if they also are cutting back on their intake of iodized salts.
As with many things, balance is the key. Overconsumption of almost anything can trigger unwanted results. With thyroid disease, excessive consumption of soy products and raw “gassy” veggies (cabbage, turnips, kohlrabi, radishes, cauliflower, brussel sprouts to name a few) is not recommended. Neither is smoking, excessive radiation, being female or over 60 years of age.
I hope some of the above makes sense to you. You are absolutely correct in that the thyroid gland regulates the metabolism and it would seem natural to want to help that little gland in any way you can.
Haha thats great... thanks for all the info!
I know for certain that im not consuming excess iodine, but I was concerned about having low levels of it...
But my diet consists of a lot of variation with vegetables, sources of meat / non-meat protein, and carbs that I probably am getting sufficient iodine.
cheers:)
This thread is very interesting since I gave blood yesterday to re-check all my thyroid hormone levels.
You can get iodine supplements. I got 369 iodine off of Ebay and I've lost 10.5lbs since I got it. Check your container of salt, mine was Morton brand and it said on it "this product contains no iodine, a necessary nutrient". So I wasn't even getting it through my salt. I'm not the seller of this product and I'm sure there's other ones, that is just the one that I bought.
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