Australia is adding iodine to their bread
On the heels of an excellent Thyroid Patient STTM Community Call on iodine with guest Stephanie Buist (see below), it was just announced by the Food Standards Authority of Australia and New Zealand (FSANZ) that Australia will add the micronutrient iodine to bread. New Zealand already started that practice in September of last year.
The announcement mentions the importance of iodine to thyroid functioning, as well as for infant brain and nervous system, both during and after pregnancy. For the latter, it states “Not having enough iodine during pregnancy and early childhood can cause developmental delay and lead to reductions in mental performance. This damage prior to 2-3 years of age is irreversible.”
Apparently, the soils of Australia and New Zealand are not too prolific in iodine, and patient levels have been revealing that fact for decades. But Stephanie Buist, the friendly and knowledgeable owner of the yahoo group Iodine, as well as a thyroid cancer survivor, states that even most US soils are becoming depleted. It’s not just a problem of the northern US “goiter belt”, Europe or Africa anymore.
The importance of iodine goes even farther than thyroid functioning, pregnancy and infant brain development. It has a key role in breast health, your immune system, bones, estrogen metabolism, lung health, eyes, and cancer prevention. The iodine4health website lists many benefits as well as areas not understood yet.
How much do we need? Experts like Abraham, Flechas and Brownstein will emphatically state that we probably need more than is recommended. At least 50 mg of iodine may be necessary for awhile to bring your levels back up to healthy amounts, besides stop the the side effects of iodine on hashimotos disease. i.e. thinking you are getting enough iodine naturally from foods, or even from natural desiccated thyroid like Naturethroid, Erfa’s Thyroid, or compounded, may not be so.
How do you find out if you are iodine deficient? Stephanie stated on the Community Call that the majority of folks probably are deficient. But if you want to be sure, you can do the Iodine Loading Test.
What are good iodine supplements? Lugols is an liquid variety, and my husband and I personally use it in our morning juice or Emergen C (my husband uses Emergen C in water since he’s diabetic, and it’s a good way for him to get his Vitamin C).  In pill form is Iodoral, developed by Abraham. You can google either and find some website sources. Also good to take with iodine supplementation is magnesium, Vitamin C, and selenium, which helps with the detox effects.
You can listen to the recording of Stephanie’s and my conversion on iodine by going to the link below for Episode 5 of the Thyroid Patient STTM Community Call. (Yes, I will correct the skipping you hear in my voice next time.)
Read Diana’s experience with iodine helping her get off desiccated thyroid. Not something we can all do, but it happened to her!