I recently read a article where the writer wrote that she lost weight in Hoshimotos thyroid on a diet that consisted of iodine and taking extra salt daily. I understood from my endo that I should avoid taking vitamins that contain iodine as it interferes with the thyroid. Any thoughts?
Thanks
Years ago I had a one off appointment with an Endo on the Thyroid UK list. He said I should take SOME iodine and advised a supplement. I queried him but he insisted it was a question of balance, not too much, not too little and thyroid needs some. That was his opinion.
Now I THINK - it's hard to tell when you feel rubbish on a daily - that I get worse straightaway when I take iodine. It lights my thyroid on fire. HOWEVER I do also get intense cravings for salt at times. Once I even found myself in my kitchen in the early hours pouring salt directly into my hand and eating it. Sometimes I deliberately buy chips just so I can pour the salt on heavy. So maybe my body is after the iodine. As well as regular salt I now have iodine salt in the cupboard. No idea if it helps or hinders.
So maybe you need it at times but not necessarily all the time.
Sorry not a concise answer just anecdotal experience, but maybe someone will come along whose better informed.
I’m certainly not an expert but salt is sodium chloride, so there’s no iodine in it. “Iodised” salt has trace amounts of iodine in it, so unless your salt is specifically labelled as “iodised salt” then it probably doesn’t have any iodine in it.
I have read that you should avoid taking additional iodine unless you are diagnosed with a deficit. I’m sure someone with references you can read will bring their knowledge to bear 🐻 shortly...
Suzi_ appears to be in the USA where iodised salt is usual - not the exception.
Sea salt and some others do have small amounts of iodine. But in general, seawater is low in iodine because so much has already been taken up by seaweeds!
Unless you are naturally iodine-deficient (which in the US is avoided by iodising salt) then with Hashimoto's thyroiditis, avoid taking iodine. It interferes when in excess with the thyroid's ability to make some hormone and can lead to "thyroid storm" and other unpleasant results. With the thyroid already being dodgy and unstable it's not wise to make things worse.
What do you say about this? stopthethyroidmadness.com/2...
Highly misleading, wrong and and potentially dangerous ideas. For one thing iodine in the body is mostly in the thyroid hormones and the iodide from their breakdown which accumulates in the salivery glands ready for rebuilding into the thyroid hormones by the gland. Comparatively there is very little elsewhere in the body.. If you are iodine-deficient naturally, then carefully, and I mean carefully, you can a little iodide as potassium or sodium iodide, NOT iodine, to your diet. If you have autoimmune disease then iodide supplementation should be avoided unless you are deficient.
Excerpt from a paper discussing iodine (as thyroid hormone) levels in healthy humans:
Iodine is a trace element in soil and water that is ingested in several chemical forms. Most forms of iodine are reduced to iodide in the gut. Iodide is nearly completely absorbed in the stomach and duodenum. Iodine is cleared from the circulation primarily by the thyroid and kidney. Under normal circumstances, plasma iodine has a half-life of approximately 10 hours, but this is shortened if the thyroid is overactive, as in iodine deficiency or hyperthyroidism. The mean daily turnover of iodine by the thyroid is approximately 60-95 µg in adults in iodine-sufficient areas. The body of a healthy adult contains from 15 to 20 mg of iodine, 70%-80% of which is in the thyroid.
Levothyroxine contains iodine
Supplementing any extra is extremely controversial
drknews.com/iodine-and-hash...
iodine and thyroid imbalances
Should I be giving Iodine Supplements to my children to prevent Thyroidism?
Iodine - no thyroid.
