It is funny how things happen in synchronicity. I was just finishing off the main article for my Membership Magazine called “The Importance of Iodine” where I have written a huge expose about the conditions of iodine deficiency and the totally inadequate recommendations given to us about how much iodine to supplement with. It’s a very interesting story with enormous implications for not only cancer prevention, but with regards to many other chronic health issues.
And then I saw this piece in one of the Sunday Newspapers: “Bubs’ IQ plummet from lack of iodine” was the headline. “Iodine deficiency among pregnant women has reached such alarming levels, they will produce a generation of dumber children, a leading expert warns.
Endocrinologist Professor Creswell Eastman has just completed a study of 400 pregnant women at Sydney’s Westmead Hospital and found 60-70 per cent of them were iodine deficient – up from 50 per cent a few years ago. Iodine is a trace element essential for brain growth in a developing foetus and to maintain normal thyroid function, growth and metabolism.
Professor Creswell, vice-chair of the International Council for Control of Iodine Deficiency Disorders, said women involved in the study were only getting half the iodine they required.
“Children born to mothers who are moderately iodine deficient have lower IQs… It is dumbing down our population,” Prof Eastman said. “We could solve the whole problem if we could convince the Government that all salt for human consumption should be iodised,” Prof Eastman said.”
So part of this story is correct – the bit about low IQ’s and the iodine connection – but correcting with just iodised salt is actually not the answer. In the article I have just written, I explain how the Japanese consume up to 100 times the recommended daily allowance of iodine that has been set as standard for our country; and that the RDA is inadequate to prevent most iodine deficiency disorders.
If you would like to read the article I have written in full – you can sign up to receive it here: Embracing Health Membership Club.
Leisa
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Hi Leisa,
I wish I could take Iodine, but whenever I do I break out in nasty pimples on my face. Any thoughts on this?
Louise
Hi Louise,
Yes, iodine will cause the excretion of excess Bromine, one of the side effects is acne. Bromine is found in bread, citrus flavoured soft-drinks and sports drinks and is in pesticides sprayed on fruit and veggiese. Taking chloride (salt) with the iodine can help facilitate the urinary excretion of bromine so that it doesn’t come out of the skin so much. This could be the issue and it is worth exploring whether you have an iodine deficiency with a urinary iodine excretion test.
Leisa
OK thanks Lisa!