iodine

[Gravely]

Has anyone had their iodine levels tested? If so, a standard test or a loading test? Who did you use? Kind regards

[humanbean]

Avoid loading tests and patch tests. The loading test is misleading and the patch test is useless.

blog.zrtlab.com/flaws-in-th...

web.archive.org/web/2022122...

The only test I know of that might be worth doing is :

1) A urine iodine test (that might be) carried out by Genova Diagnostics UK.

thyroiduk.org/testing/priva...

The list of tests they do and prices that they charge is given here :

thyroiduk.org/wp-content/up...

but hasn't been updated in a long time and I suspect is well out of date.

Genova is an awkward company to do business with because they won't deal with patients directly, they only deal with doctors. This is probably because the parent company is American and they want to do business the American healthcare way. It would be worth asking in a new thread if anyone has done the urine iodine test in the last year, how much it costs, and how it went.

This is the only link I found that refers to the urine iodine test ( Urine Iodine #4604 ) on the Genova Diagnostics website :

gdx.net/uk/hormonal-health#...

and note it says : "Healthcare providers can access our full test menu when ordering through their myGDX account" so information on the test might be hard to come by (unless you are a "healthcare provider")

2) cerascreen.co.uk/products/i...

I've never used the above company for anything, and I don't know how they present results to people. I know some of the cheaper, newer, testing companies will test something then just tell you whether it is "normal" i.e. in range, "low", or "high", they don't give actual results and actual ranges - and I think cerascreen might be one of these because I found this comment :

Find out in our laboratory analysis whether your iodine levels are within the recommended range.

To me, this kind of result is useless. Suppose you get a result for (made-up) vitamin X, and it is 71 (70 - 190), this result is so low in range it might give you deficiency symptoms. Another person might get a result of 185 (70 - 190) and they may have toxicity symptoms. The optimal result for the majority of people might be mid-range i.e. 130 (70 - 190). But if a testing company only tells you whether your result is in range you are no better off.

3) This is the very limited info given by the NHS but it says nothing about testing, although I'm sure they could test iodine if they wanted to (which they probably don't) :

nhs.uk/conditions/vitamins-...

4) Just found this test :

gettested.co.uk/product/iod...

which does give a result and a range according to the sample report :

gettested.co.uk/wp-content/...

so that is probably your best bet. But again - I've never used gettested myself.