Eggs and iodine (plus other restrictions)

[Danielj1]

I have separately kicked off a discussion on an earlier thread over medical medium’s key dietary recommendation to give up eggs.

For those who did not read the thread there are plenty of views pro and

Con and some saying they enjoy eggs.

An email today from a leading US Edno suggests that can reduce TSH better by keeping iodine to the lowest possible levels - so as well as no supplements with iodine, no kelp, a suggestion that all

Foods with possible iodine contents be stopped. This includes all dairy , eggs , yoghurt and fish amongst others.

So another reason for me to not take eggs, but I certainly had never ever considered the possibility of giving up fish.

He is advising his clients to do this. As it was sent I. An email

There is no web link

To attach. I am not sure I can agree to all of this.

Has anyone else given up eggs and yoghurt and fish for these reasons.

[diogenes Remembering]

So where is the essential iodine one needs for thyroid health supposed to come from? I would have said that iodine deficiency would render making T4 hard for the thyroid, giving goitre and encouraging higher TSH in response. This advice seems completely irresponsible.

[Angel_of_the_North]

Well, surely you don't just want to bring TSH down, you want it come down because you've increased free T3 and free T4? You need some iodine in your diet, just not an excessive amount. So where are your good fats supposed to come from? Ok, I'm vegan so I don't eat any of those things, but it's not because of iodine. There's not much in nuts or fruit and veg.

[SlowDragon Administrator]

Isn't there iodine in Levothyroxine?

Certainly many functional medics advise any Hashimoto's patients to keep iodine intake to a minimum

drknews.com/iodine-and-hash...

thyroidpharmacist.com/artic...

I buy organic milk for that reason, as it is (or was) lower in iodine. However recently read they are now increasing iodine levels in organic milk

omsco.co.uk/_clientfiles/pd...

sciencedaily.com/releases/2...

[Clutter]

Danielj1,

I though you were supplementing kelp? Why would you supplement iodine but eschew it in your diet?

[Danielj1 in reply to Clutter]

I have stopped kelp - it was all explained on a separate thread earlier in the week. I am trying to give a complete narrative as my understanding develops

[Clutter in reply to Danielj1]

Danielj1,

You still need some iodine in your diet. As far as I'm aware the only people who need a low iodine diet are those who are preparing for radioactive iodine ablation and that's only for a maximum of 4-5 weeks.

[Danielj1 in reply to Clutter]

Author says 100mcg max per day and. No more

Some extraordinary outcomes being claimed by reducing to

This lower level- I like fish and yoghurt and do not plan to give these up at all. The research I find intriguing - genuinely though.

A number came off levo entirely by reducing iodine as thyroid function improved - more digging needed

For me.

[Clutter in reply to Danielj1]

Danielj1,

Where's the author's evidence for saying 100mcg daily is max? RDA for pregnant women is 150mcg.

[Danielj1 in reply to Clutter]

78.3 % of people in a ground breaking study went into complete remission from hypothyroid from restricting their intake below 100mcg.

As I say it is a lot to take in and I will have to reflect on this further.

This may be US advice but i am not sure I have see this level mentioned before - it certainly means all multi vit type supplements with iodine in them are out of bounds.

[Clutter in reply to Danielj1]

Danielj1,

Table salt is iodinised in the US so there will be higher levels of iodine in processed foods in the US and that's why there's no longer a high proportion of iodine deficiency induced hypothyroidism in the US.

google.co.uk/search?q=the+g...

High doses of iodine will suppress thyroid hormone and elevate TSH. People supplementing kelp and iodine often find TSH drops when they stop supplementing.

[helvella in reply to Danielj1]

Any information on this so-called ground breaking study? Authors? Where published? Title? Date?

I have seen all too many people quote a paper which, when read, seems to mean something entirely different.

[Danielj1 in reply to helvella]

I would not raise your hopes at all ...no doubt many years old and as you say open to interpretation ...

I will do my best to get hold of it

[researcherUK]

The Thyroid, iodine storage, can hold up to 50 mg of iodine and for a reason because it is integral to several body functions.

Not getting enough iodine from food or supplements, the thyroid will struggle, and the TSH is likely to increase, in this case, rather than decrease.

The function of the thyroid gland is to take iodine from certain foods (fish, eggs, sea vegetables, strawberries, turkey, for example), add it to the amino acid Tyrosine (found in milk, eggs, cheese, turkey, chicken almonds) and convert it into thyroid hormones: mostly thyroxine (T4) and some triiodothyronine (T3).

Your body also needs some iodine for other functions. Iodine is antioxidant and antibacterial. Your eyes need it for protection against UVB radiation, your brain needs it, it is found in the gastric mucosa, cervix, mammary glands and salivary glands, and the list can continue.

Furthermore, we are exposed and daily to toxins and halides that inhibit both its absorption and transport.

If I recall correctly you are back to exercise; so, you are very likely to sweat and you'll certainly lose some iodine.

So adding more food with iodine, in my views, has more benefits than excluding it.

[Danielj1 in reply to researcherUK]

Ok, thanks. Balance is everything as they say. I can only report back what experts tell me and try to make sense of it all.

You are strongly supporting my view to stick to some iodine foods and for me this is things like fish and yoghurt.

So even if this may not be advocated, can anyone hazard a guess why so many had such success on very low iodine diets?

[researcherUK in reply to Danielj1]

I will suspend any judgment until I see those studies that suggest otherwise. Exactly, as you say, "trying to make sense"; so, most importantly one ought to assess their validity, rigour, and generalisation.

[Danielj1 in reply to researcherUK]

I will email the chap back and get the links so everyone can review /critique

[phoenix23002]

Good grief..lol.. Give up all iodine? When every one of our cells in our body has receptor sites for receiving/utilizing iodine? Here in the states, the collective conclusion when it comes to endos is that they are all (with rare exceptions) totally useless when it comes to treating the thyroid gland.

[mhrmzi]

Im so close to buying the medical medium book but after reading some thoughts about it in here (i forgot the post name im sorry) i bought Amy Myers, MD book instead.Good book about thyroid if i must say so

[Danielj1 in reply to mhrmzi]

I think you will

Enjoy Myers book too.

Good luck

[mhrmzi in reply to Danielj1]

Thank you and all the best to you too

[diogenes Remembering]

The Japanese have for many years had a diet rich in fish, other seafood and some seaweeds which are quite rich in iodine. There's no evidence that the Japanese have any greater incidence of thyroid problems than anyone else. And I don't think those that do have thyroid problems are advised to change diet.

[Danielj1 in reply to diogenes]

Ok, read resarch articles from 2014 and 2003.

If you live in iodine rich area from diet including iodised salt cutting total iodine intake down to 300mcg helped a number of people with symptoms. In the other study placing a maximum daily intake of 100mcg helped far greater proportion of patients reduce or remove hypothyroid symptoms.

So idea is if you are already have a great sufficiency of iodine from natural sources trying to cut back for a period and monitor outcomes is a possible option.

I do find this interesting as it appears to make the point that even small amounts of surplus iodine over and above minimum required for healthy living can be very unhelpful for some/many hypothyroid sufferers.

If true, multi vit makers need to be more careful in their dosages of iodine or better male supplements that restrict iodine when selling supplements to hypo sufferers.

For example , my naturelo vits have only a tiny 50mcg iodine when often this is 150mcg. I had thought this as a problem but can now perhaps see this as beneficial.

[Danielj1 in reply to Danielj1]

We are talking here reactions in tsh scores from 12 to 3.

[Danielj1 in reply to Danielj1]

Reductions in tsh scores ...

[diogenes Remembering]

Nat Rev Endocrinol. 2014 Mar; 10(3): 136–142.

Published online 2013 Dec 17. doi: 10.1038/nrendo.2013.251

PMCID: PMC3976240

NIHMSID: NIHMS564821

Consequences of excess iodine

Angela M. Leung and Lewis E. Braverman