The nutrient most likely missing in your diet: iodine

I did a video on my iodine supplementing the other day and it was the most engaged with story I’ve ever had. Ever. This tells me that iodine and our needs for it are something women need more info on so I’ve done my best to highlight the most important info on it here.

Iodine is an essential nutrient for thyroid health. It plays an important role in regulating hormones, supporting brain health and balancing metabolism. Our needs for iodine go through the roof when pregnant and breastfeeding as baby needs A LOT to do all that growing and developing, with requirements close to doubling by the time we’re lactating. Not enough iodine during pregnancy is linked with growth abnormalities and low birth weight, still birth, premature delivery and even lowered infant IQ. Growth abnormalities and failure to thrive for bub are also indicated while breastfeeding if Mum is deficient.

For Mama, poor intake of iodine could look like

• unexplained weight gain or loss,

• overall feelings of fatigue and weakness,

• hair loss, dry skin,

• feeling puffy, especially around the face

• being sensitive to the cold,

• difficulty with memory and focus,

• swelling in the neck (as the thyroid increases size)

The hardest part about iodine is that it is relatively rare in the Australian diet. Why? Because our soils are nutrient depleted so do not naturally contain iodine. The best natural source is seaweed and seafood. There is some confusion around whether dairy includes iodine and the fact is, it USED to be a source because an iodine solution - a natural antimicrobial - was used to clean farm milking equipment. It’s not anymore, meaning dairy is no longer a source of iodine.

Since iodine deficiency is so common in Australia our government have introduced iodine fortified salt ‘iodised salt’ which is used to make every bread here, except if you buy organic. So if you’re eating store bought bread daily, or using iodised salt, you likely will be getting some but not necessarily enough.

But y’all know me. I’m into real foods. We have to eat gluten free so bread is out for us and I don’t like the over-processed iodised salt. So, to get enough I like to include as much seaweed in my diet as I can, daily is useful during pregnancy. I tend to buy seaweed flakes and add 1/2 -1 tsp to my dinner each day. In this quantity you can’t taste it, trust me! As an avid seafood hater, I absolutely need to not be able to taste it (haha!).

However, I’ve had some trouble sourcing quality seaweed of late so have had to resort to supplementing as I was ticking quite a few of the symptom boxes. However, before you supplement it is important to talk to your doctor first as it can interfere with some medications.

So what should you do? If you live in Australia I can almost say that you will be some level of deficient. It is that common. How deficient you are will depend on your diet and lifestyle, I’d suggest adding seaweed in - real foods will always be okay to take - then talking to your doc about getting a supplement if you have a need.