I wrote a book called Healing the Thyroid With Ayurveda, and in that book I discuss how to effectively treat the thyroid gland and heal it, rather than giving the thyroid hormone which primarily shuts down the thyroid gland since it’s no longer called upon to make its hormones.
As a result I treat people from all around the world for their thyroid conditions, such as hypothyroid, hyperthyroid, Hashimoto’s and Graves Disease.
And what I have found is that people don’t understand enough about iodine, which is important because the thyroid gland is the only gland that uses iodine to make its hormones. And through the years I have seen both sides of the spectrum: people are either deficient in it or they are taking supplements and are overdosing on it, which can actually suppress the thyroid gland. This is one of those cases where many people think that if a little is good for you, then more must be better. It is definitely not the case when it comes to iodine.
So let’s start at the beginning.
The main role of iodine is in the production of thyroid hormones. T3 contains 3 iodine atoms and T4 contains 4 iodine atoms. These are the two primary hormones made by the thyroid gland, and they control your metabolism – you can either gain too much weight with a sluggish metabolism as in the case of hypothyroidism, or lose too much weight if metabolism is too high, which can happen in hyperthyroidism.
It can also affect growth, which is important to know because if your child isn’t growing properly, this might be one avenue you want to consider and see why the thyroid gland is being depressed. Don’t be tempted to rush in and give the hormones. It’s more important to see why it’s not able to function, fix that and then bring its function back. There are numerous causes, such as if there is fluoride in the water, or exposure to mercury, both of which can depress the thyroid gland. There are some other reasons as well.
It is also important for brain development in fetuses and infants.
The thyroid gland uses 70-80% of the body’s iodine. Which means that iodine is used in other parts of the body. When I was growing up if we had a wound our mothers would put a tincture of iodine on it. Why? Because iodine kills infection upon contact. So that gives us a clue as to other parts of the body that would use iodine.
This is very interesting: did you know that your salivary glands concentrate small amounts of iodine? They do! Because every breath we take viruses and bacteria are coming into all these orifices and the iodine will stop them in their tracks.
Therefore you will find iodine in locations where pathogens from the outside world are entering the body and iodine will show up there to do its work in protecting us from them. Areas such as the mouth (as just mentioned in the salivary glands).
You’ll also find iodine in the stomach lining because, again, food coming in from the outside world is loaded with bacteria and viruses, no matter how much we try to clean them. Even our immune system cells which kill pathogens, such as our neutrophils use iodine to do their work in protecting us.
So how much iodine do we need? Adults need 150 micrograms a day, pregnant women need 220 micrograms a day, breastfeeding mothers need 290 micrograms a day, and children need 90 micrograms a day.
Since it is always best to get nutrients in food, in their natural form, for best utilization by the body, let’s see which foods contain iodine so we can make sure we are getting enough in the diet.
If you are not vegetarian then fish provides anywhere from 100-150 micrograms of iodine per serving. Wild-caught fish usually have more iodine than farmed fish.
If you are vegetarian it is recommended that you consume dairy products. Just 1 cup of cow’s milk provides 90 micrograms of iodine, 1 cup of yogurt provides 50-75 micrograms, and 1/2 cup of cottage cheese provides 25-40 micrograms.
For vegans who do not consume dairy, seaweed can be extremely rich in iodine, much more than in fish but you must be very careful because kelp and other brown seaweeds contain iodine far above the safe upper limit, especially if you consume it every day or take a supplement of seaweed every day.
For example, kelp (or kombu) contains 1400-2500 micrograms per serving! This is definitely way too much so be careful if you consume these – maybe take them only once or twice a week at the most.
Wakame contains 150-300 micrograms per serving, and nori used in sushi – 1 sheet, contains 30-60 micrograms, so it is much safer. Dulse contains 150-250 micrograms.
Consistently consuming too much iodine may lead to thyroid dysfunction. You can actually suppress your thyroid gland with too much iodine. In fact, too much iodine can lead to hypothyroid or an underactive thyroid, hyperthyroidism, where the thyroid is overactive or a goiter, which is an enlarged thyroid gland. This is important to know because when most people think about a goiter or any thyroid condition, they automatically think of low iodine as the underlying cause.
High iodine levels can trigger a temporary shutdown of thyroid hormone production, but if exposure is prolonged it may lead to permanent thyroid suppression in some people.
High iodine intake is linked to increased risk of autoimmune thyroiditis and hypothyroidism. In my practice I see many people with autoimmune thyroid diseases, such as Hashimoto’s and Grave’s Disease, take too much iodine which made their condition worse – and it can even trigger these two diseases to develop in the first place.
Natural food sources, as opposed to the synthetic iodine supplements are preferred because they provide other supportive nutrients like selenium, tyrosine and protein, all of which help thyroid function.
Except for eating too much kelp, in general, it’s much easier to overdose on iodine supplements than from food, even if the supplement is marketed as natural. Keep in mind that we roughly need about 200 micrograms a day of iodine, but the supplements can be hundreds or even thousands of micrograms per pill, especially in the case of kelp pills and Lugol’s iodine.
For example, it’s not unusual for one kelp pill to contain 2,000 micrograms of iodine.
Many of our patients reported that their thyroid conditions worsened with the use of Lugol’s iodine. Lugol’s iodine is a solution of elemental iodine and potassium iodide in water. It’s named after the French physician Jean Guillame Auguste Lugol, who developed it in 1829. The solution is used in both medical and laboratory settings. I have seen many thyroid cases worsen once the patient started to take this as a supplement. Here is why:
There are varying strengths of Lugol’s iodine, all of which are extremely high. A 2% solution of Lugol’s iodine found in only one drop of the extract contains 2.5 MILLIGRAMS (a thousand micrograms is in one milligram), 5% Lugol’s contains 6.25 milligrams per drop, 7% Lugol’s contains 8.75 milligrams per drop, and 10% Lugol’s contains an extremely concentrated amount of iodine with 12.5 milligrams per drop.
This means that one drop of 5% Lugol’s delivers 6.25 mg or 6,250 micrograms which is 5x over the safe daily upper limit of 1100 micrograms per day!!!
Now that you have this information, I hope you will be very careful when it comes to your daily intake of iodine. You can see that food is your best bet, as it gives the amounts your body needs. Kelp or kombu are the only sources of food you need to be careful with.
Supplementation of iodine needs to be monitored carefully. Make sure you know how much is in your supplement and don’t exceed what the body needs. In this case, getting more iodine is not a good thing. I can’t tell you how many of my thyroid patients worsened their condition by taking iodine supplements without understanding these important facts.
I hope this information helps you as you seek to naturally balance out your thyroid gland.