Iodine.

[beaton]

Did anyone see the BBC news post about Iodine being low in the UK ? An article in the Lancet suggested giving iodine pills to women in pregnancy to boost baby's IQ and cause "health improvments".

So does taking iodine seem like a good idea??

[Clutter]

Beaton, Possibly for pregnant women and for anyone who has tested and has low iodine. Not necessarily for others. Anyone on thyroid replacement should be getting the required iodine from their meds and diet.

[beaton in reply to Clutter]

So our thyroid meds. should contain adequate iodine. I am on T3, how much iodine is there in my meds. please ??

[helvella Administrator Thyroid UK in reply to beaton]

For levothyroxine, around 65% (by weight) of the labelled dosage. For example, a 100 microgram tablet contains around 65 micrograms of iodine.

For liothyronine, the proportion is slightly lower.

See BBC story here:

bbc.co.uk/news/health-33827594

The Lancet paper here:

thelancet.com/journals/land...

The Science Daily summary here:

sciencedaily.com/releases/2...

[Clutter in reply to beaton]

Beaton, I've absolutely no idea

Iodine is an indispensable component of the thyroid hormones, comprising 65% of T4‘s weight, and 58% of T3‘s.

thyroidmanager.org/chapter/...

If I understand it correctly this means we get the 65%/58% from normal thyroid or replacement thyroid. The rest will be from diet.

[beaton]

Thanks both Helvella and Clutter for your advice.

So having read that 58% of T3 is iodine and I'm taking 60 mcg, so I'm getting about 35 mcg iodine for meds. The UK guidelines recommend 0.14 mg. for adults In mg. I'm getting 0.035 mg from meds. and the rest should come from food.

As a vegetarian coeliac I think I may be lacking.