The nutrients you eat support your body’s ability to grow, repair damaged cells, and maintain a healthy weight. But while you need a wide variety of vitamins in your diet, they all rely on one mineral to function property: iodine. This often-neglected element plays a critical role in regulating your metabolism by helping your thyroid gland produce hormones you need to convert calories and oxygen into energy.
Insufficient iodine levels show up as hair loss, weakness, fatigue, problems with focus and memory, and more. A deficiency can create even more severe health issues for women who are pregnant and breastfeeding. It’s very dangerous for people with hypothyroidism or an underactive thyroid. Your body doesn’t produce iodine, and many people don’t get enough in their daily diet, but you can get what you need in a pure form that’s readily absorbed and activated in your body, with Go Nutrients liquid supplement Iodine Edge.
What is Iodine and Why Is It Important?
Iodine is a chemical element (number 53 on the periodic table) found in soil and crops, ocean water, and in small amounts in certain foods. Your body requires it consistently throughout your lifetime from birth through adulthood. It’s just as crucial to fetal growth and development from conception through birth. During the first year of life, babies need 110 to 130 micrograms (mcg), while children ages 1 to 8 require 90 mcg. As kids get older, their needs increase to 120 mcg, topping out at 150 mcg as a teen. Requirements level out at 150 mcg throughout adulthood, spiking up to 220 mcg during pregnancy and 290 mcg when a woman is breastfeeding
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Studies show iodine deficiency to be one of the most widespread deficiency diseases in the world. Because this trace element plays such a vital role in thyroid function, and your thyroid dictates the rate your body converts food into energy. If your intake is lower than recommended levels, you feel sluggish and weak. The benefits are many, including an active metabolism, strong bones, a healthy immune response that allows you to fight off bacteria and viruses, and healthy brain function.
Symptoms of Iodine Deficiency
Not everyone will experience this condition the same. Symptoms range from mild to sever and everything in between. It is challenging to reach this diagnosis without valuable testing and insight from your physician.
Research and educate yourself before making the appointment. Be prepared with a list of symptoms, questions and any concerns you have.
How do you know if you’re iodine deficient? Here are some of the common symptoms
Learn More About The Thyroid & Your Body >>
Swollen neck
The most obvious symptom of iodine deficiency is swelling at the front of your neck. The condition, called goiter, happens when the thyroid is deprived of iodine and starts working overtime to pull this critical element from other parts of your body.
Unexpected weight gain
If your diet and exercise schedule hasn’t changed, but you’re gaining weight, it may be due to the metabolism slowdown that comes with iodine deficiency. Your body is burning fewer calories, so the food you eat will be stored as fat.
Fatigue and weakness
If you are getting enough sleep but always feel tired, weak, and unable to perform tasks you normally have no trouble completing, it could be caused by iodine deficiency.
Hair loss
When your iodine levels are low, the regular hair loss you see in your brush each day isn’t replenished with new strands of hair, causing thinning hair and potential bald spots.
Dry, flaky skin
Thyroid hormones boost skin cell regeneration and regulate sweat. Without enough iodine, you may sweat less and notice dry, flaky patches of skin.
Sensitivity to cold
If you’re iodine-deficient, not only are you moving less because you’re tired, but your lack of thyroid hormones reduces your ability to burn fat at rest. Your body generates less heat, so you feel more uncomfortable in the cold.
Changes in heart rate
As your metabolism slows, your heartbeat slows as well, making you feel dizzy and like you’re going to faint.
Difficulty learning and remembering
Thyroid hormone helps your brain grow and develop, so without enough iodine, you’ll find focus and memory becoming more challenging.
Iodine in Food
Access to foods rich in iodine varies widely across the globe depending on the iodine content of soil and the availability of fresh fruits and vegetables, seafood, and dairy products where you live. Strive for a varied diet, mixing in these iodine-rich foods and looking for products with “iodized” on the label. Seaweed is packed with iodine and low in calories.
Other options include:
Dairy
Milk, yogurt, and cheese give you anywhere from half to a full day’s requirement of iodine.
Seafood
Cod delivers more than half the daily recommended amount of iodine. Shrimp and tuna are also good sources.
Read Our Story of Overcoming Iodine Deficiency >>
Eggs
A yolk from one large egg delivers 24 mcg of iodine.
Salt
Iodized salt—that is salt with iodine added to it—is a good source for people who don’t have high blood pressure. While processed foods are high in salt, they typically don’t contain iodized salt.
Should I Take An Iodine Supplement?
With iodine vital for so many bodily functions, it makes sense to be sure that you’re getting enough of it every day. A supplement is a great way to ensure that happens.
Armed with a complete picture of iodine’s vital role in maintaining your health, you’ll want to choose the purest form of supplement you can get. Choose one that works seamlessly with your metabolism to boost energy, lose weight, protect your immune system, and sharpen your brain.
Hundreds of customer reviews attest to the healthy and life-changing results people have experienced using the high-energy, electromagnetically charged nascent iodine in Go Nutrients Iodine Edge. Because it’s iodine in its purest form, delivered in a plant-based solution without any chemicals and filler ingredients, droplets go to work quickly for peak thyroid function.
Written by Ann Gibson for Matcha in partnership with Go Nutrients.