The Thyroid Mystery – Part 2

I’m still stuck on this Thyroid thing.  Only now I’ve moved onto its relationship with Iodine.

So how do you know if you might have a thyroid deficiency?
Look here: Long and Pathetic List of Symptoms
Iodine deficiency? Try here: Wikipedia

As soon as you start digging around the internet on Thyroid disfunction, up pops ‘Iodine & Thyroid’ as a happy couple.

Iodine? Like, the brown antiseptic surgery thingy?

Yep.

Turns out that Iodine regulates the Thyroid and is one element that the body cannot function without. Being deficient in it can wreak systemic havoc.

I came across an article in Life Extension Magazine, “The Silent Epidemic of Iodine Deficiency”:

“Iodine is critical to healthy thyroid function. Its deficiency can cause weight gain, low energy, depression, cardiovascular disease, cognitive decline, and a variety of cancers.
Yet rates of iodine deficiency have reached epidemic levels, increasing fourfold over the past 40 years. A startling 74% of normal, “healthy” adults may no longer be consuming sufficient quantities”

And regarding breast cancer:
“Japanese women consume a diet high in iodine-rich seaweed, which provides them with an iodine intake 25 times higher than the average American woman’s. Japanese women also have breast cancer rates roughly one-third of those found in American women, a difference that disappears in Japanese women who immigrate to the US, where they consume considerably less seaweed.”

Another article by Dr. D.C. Jarvis on the Usefulness of Iodine was a little ‘folk medicine’-y for me, but it summed up iodine as “necessary for the thyroid gland’s proper performance.”  Functions of iodine listed were:
1. Immune support
2. Energy
3. Mental clarity
4. Metabolism & weight gain

Yet another article by a nutritional biochemist, Laura Power, describes Iodine & Thyroid  deficiency as an epidemic.
She also goes into the 4 main functions of Iodine:
1. Thyroid, Metabolism & Weight
2. Mental Development
3. Fertility
4. Enhanced Immune Function

Good. Looks like I’m on the right track.

The foods richest in iodine are: seaweed, seafood (shrimp, cod, sea bass, haddock, perch), and iodized (table) salt.  You can also get iodine into your system by topically applying an iodine tincture onto the soft tissues of your inner arm, stomach, or back of knee.  Other articles suggest Lugol’s solution. (see the folksy article cited above)

Great right?  There’s a catch…

There are several toxic halogens found in the environment that inhibit the absorption of iodine: bromine, chlorine, fluoride, perchlorate.  Chemically related to iodine, these halogens are absorbed by the thyroid gland and are difficult to flush out.  (Check out Mark’s Daily Apple blog HERE for more.)

There are 3 tests for iodine: skin patch test, spot test, and loading.  The latter two are urine tests, which our very own Alana Shaw can help you out with.  (You can also ask for these from your doctor, and order them online through Doctor’s Data.)  

The US recommended dietary allowance (RDA) for iodine is 150-290 micrograms (mcg) for adults, while the Food and Nutrition Board of the Institute of Medicine has set the tolerable upper limit at 1,100 mcg.

These guidelines may be inadequate to address certain health conditions.
They were first established as sufficient only to prevent goiter. Daily doses for optimal health of 3,000-6,000 mcg have been used without side effects in studies of people with other iodine deficiency-related health conditions such as polycystic breast disease.
By way of comparison, the average daily Japanese consumption of iodine ranges from 5,280 to 13,800 mcg of iodine, with no harmful effects and a host of benefits.”

Is anyone else MORE confused now?

I’ve tried the patch test before, and I felt a difference in my energy.  Contemplating the urine analysis…. Tell me what you’ve tried.

Or… take it all with a grain of…  

~Squad

Warmup:

10 Wall Balls

10 Russian Kettle Bell Swings

10 Push ups

3 rounds

then

Ankle/Hip mobility- coaches choice

Tech:Bulgarian Split Squat

Work up to 3 Heavy Sets 5 on each leg

then

Warm up Hang Clean

WOD: 2012 Regionals WOD

1000m Row

25 pistols

15 Hang Cleans (225/135)

20 min time cap

*Scale Hang Cleans as needed!!!

House of Sheppy