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Low Thyroid Diet Thyroid And Iodine
Low Thyroid Diet: An Under Active Thyroid and Iodine - What's The Link?
There are conflicting views regarding an under active thyroid and iodine when used as a supplement in a low thyroid diet. On one hand the belief is it can help overcoming thyroid disorders but on the other hand the consensus is that our western diet is well suited to healthy thyroid functioning should therefore not need any iodine added to it.
It's all very misleading, so what are we to believe?
The facts are that yes, the thyroid does need iodine to function correctly. In the normal run of things, when the thyroid is functioning as it should, this iodine is obtained from the foods we eat. In the developed world, our diet is such that it normally supplies all the iodine our system requires through foods that include radishes, parsley, fish, potatoes, beetroot, bananas and oatmeal. Without a sufficient iodine intake the thyroid could stop working correctly and you would become hypothyroid, in so much as you would have an under active thyroid.
You would expect, if that was the case, that if you where iodine deficient (a diagnosis reached purely from a superstition that hypothyroidism is caused only by the thyroid failing from a lack of iodine) that simply by taking an iodine supplement, such as kelp, you could in fact re-activate your thyroid back to normal hormone production.
The truth of the matter lies closer to this. It is seldom that a person suffering from hypothyroidism also suffers from an iodine deficiency, that is, if they are eating normally. As I have mentioned before, the western diet is rich in iodine either from a natural source or, as is becoming more prevalent, from it being added to our processed food. The largest part of thyroid disease, be that in America, Canada, Europe or Australasia, is not caused through lack of iodine.
So, can an Iodine supplement cause harm?
Put simply, yes, but it's not that clear cut. One of the main ways of supplementing iodine is by taking a kelp based under active thyroid diet supplement, which is naturally rich in iodine, in the hope it will trigger the thyroid back into action. Taken this way, this could be a bad decision as the thyroid is especially sensitive to an overdose of iodine. On the flip side, if your diet is not what may be described as balanced, if you don't get a good spread of foods or if you skip meals and eat very little, not very often, then a Kelp supplement could help you get the required amount. Also, anemia does a good job of mimicking a slow metabolism, adding iron to your diet helps this condition and kelp is not only rich in iodine it is also rich in iron and so by taking it can have duel benefits.
What could help, in addition to taking an under active thyroid replacement hormone such as thyroxine, is using one of the natural thyroid treatments that are available online and proven to help in a low thyroid diet. As you can see, the thyroid and iodine are linked but it's not as simple as you may have been are led to believe.
