Iodine-rich Greens Can Improve Our I.Q

James McDonald, BSc. Dip ION & PhD Nutrition student

It’s now official, women who suffer from iodine deficiency during pregnancy may have kids born with an impaired IQ, claims a clinical study reported in The Lancet on 23 May 2013. A team of investigators from Surrey and Bristol universities used data and samples from Bristol-based Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC), commonly called "Children of the 90s." The ALSPAC is a long-term health research project in which over 14,000 mothers participated during pregnancy in 1991 and 1992 - the health and development of their offspring have been tracked closely ever since.

Iodine Deficiency Is Commonplace in UK

The Lancet study comes as no great surprise because many nutrition experts agree that iodine deficiency is endemic in today’s society. Yet, this fact is largely ignored by government health officials, dieticians and the media. The fact that this has been highlighted and proved to be the case with pregnant women is excellent news which just serves to focus media interest more acutely.

So why all the fuss about iodine, thyroid hormones and the thyroid gland?  Thyroid hormones give a certain brightness and lightness to the personality.  Low levels during gestation or the development of a foetus causes a type of mental retardation called cretinism.  This is the origin of the slang expression calling a stupid person “a cretin”.  Low levels in childhood causes reduced mental activity, and often depression.  Too much thyroid hormone causes extreme irritability and nervousness.  The slang phrase “he is hyper” comes from the word hyperthyroid. The key to keeping a healthy thyroid gland is balancing your iodine intake.

A Healthy Thyroid Helps You Get More Creative  

          

According to Lawrence Wilson, MD, the thyroid hormones are concerned with creativity and expression in the world.  They are needed to help us reach out to the world and participate in it.  Those with very low thyroid functioning are often withdrawn and depressed for this reason.  In contrast, many famous people who are “out in the world” have higher levels of thyroid hormones.

The thyroid gland produces several very important hormones.  The major one is called thyroxin, tetra-iodothyronine or T4.  The thyroid also seems to produce a little tri-iodothyronine or T3 but most of it is made elsewhere in the body.  A very important thyroid hormone is called calcitonin, this helps regulate calcium in the body.

Iodine deficiency Causes Chronic Fatigue & Weight Gain

The thyroid hormones act like the spark plugs of the body -they ignite the fuel in the mitochondria of the cell to produce energy with which the body performs all of its functions.  For this reason, any problem with the thyroid gland causes energy problems and usually fatigue.

The amazing hormone thyroxin is absolutely required for energy production in the cells, and for growth.  It tends to increase the metabolic rate and this impacts every area of body functioning.  This includes digestive health, cardiovascular health, fat metabolism, carbohydrate metabolism, protein synthesis, body weight, heart rate, blood pressure, respiration, muscle strength, sleep and sexual functioning.

3 Ways To Keep Your Thyroid Healthy

There are three key reasons why most of us suffer from an iodine deficiency and 3 ways we can keep a healthy thyroid;

1)   Toxic chemicals and heavy metals found in our food chain deplete iodine from the thyroid gland by taking over its binding sites. The worst offenders include; chlorine, fluoride & bromine found in tap water, toothpaste, brominated vegetable oils, fizzy drinks, peanut butter, deli meat and fish. Take bromine as one example, it is used as part of a family of fire retardants.  It can be found in many consumer items such as furniture, clothing, mattresses, baby furniture, and computers.

Action - Take and make more informed lifestyle choices to reduce your toxic load, stop drinking tap water , drink filtered or bottled water instead, reduce use of fluoride toothpaste, don’t cook with unstable cooking oils, use coconut or olive oil only to cook with - eat more bromide free foods

2)   The mineral iodine is not that widely available in the foods we eat; it’s available in some ocean fish and raw organic unpasteurised dairy produce. However, because most supermarket dairy produce is heavily pasteurised & heated to extreme temperature - this processing degrades the mineral iodine so very low levels, if any at all, remain in the food.

Action - Eat more iodine containing foods; eat 3 tins of sardines weekly, avoid eating large fish (tuna, swordfish). They all contain some iodine, but their level of toxic metals is too high, and as a result they are no longer healthful foods for regular consumption.

Navy beans, organic strawberries, organic natural yoghurt, cranberries & Himalayan crystal salt are good diet sources of iodine. Eat kelp every day; this is the highest most natural supplment source of iodine. The best kelp rich whole food iodine supplement is the greens formula Green Magic, which contains 2 sea vegetables rich in iodine; kelp and dulse.  

I can recommend the brand New Spirit Naturals Green Magic because it is bottled at source and contains kelp and dulse that are organically grown, reducing toxic chemicals and heavy metals like mercury, often found in high amounts in many commercial cheaper brands. Remember that sea vegetables are very effective natural cleansers and remove toxins from water by storing in the leaves of the plants so be aware and don’t eat  sea vegetables especially if harvested off the coast of Japan these include most nori, hijiki, wakame and others.

I have been taking New Spirit Naturals Green Magic for two decades and not once has this product caused any over active or underactive problems - it has always brought the thyroid gland back into balance, allowing it to make enough T4 hormones and calcitonin which is what you need every day. Green Magic is available from http://www.buzzhealth.co.uk/green-magic

3)   the body’s demands for iodine is much higher than at any time in our history because the average diet is so high in refined carbohydrates and adulterated fats from processed foods. Iodine is required to produce thyroid hormones T3 & T4 whose role is to control metabolism of foods and help the body burn sugars and fats.

Action – stop eating refined synthetic hydrogenated oils found in margarines, corn oils and adulterated fats found in processed food and frozen meals. Eat healthy fats found in butter instead and always cook fresh wholesome foods. Replace refined foods with complex foods, this means replacing white foods with wholemeal, brown foods including rice, pasta, breads.

Another excellent nutrition tip to keep your thyroid healthy is to ensure you get sufficient amounts of healthy fats containing omega 6 and omega 3 essential fatty acids, every single day. Remember that your body cannot make EFA’s; they must come from your diet. Bad fats can ruin thyroid health. The best available EFA’s I have come across are formulated by Professor Brian Peskin, www.brianpeaskin.com he is the world’s leading EFA expert and his scientific EFA formula is called Parent Essential Oils (PEO’s) check these out at

http://www.buzzhealth.co.uk/parent-essential-oils-peo-s

Healthy fats from EFA’s are also found in nuts and seeds, organic grass fed white & red meat, tinned sardines and in the superfood Green Magic. Replace potato products with sweet potato. Eat at least 6 servings ‘greens’ daily, you don’t need to eat fruits to stay healthy, except English organic apples! If you can’t for any reason eat 6 servings’ greens the take a spoonful of Green Magic, 3 grams contains over 1400 ORAC units which gives you the equivalent 5 servings greens you need. http://www.buzzhealth.co.uk/green-magic

Don’t be influenced by people who tell you that eating green foods containing iodine will cause a thyroid imbalance; just be discerning about the type of green food choices you make; if you make sure it’s a natural whole food supplement like Green Magic then you can rely on your body to use vitamins and minerals to assimilate, absorb and store raw iodine. Because absorption rates differ in every individual very little iodine can be absorbed and stored in the thyroid from eating iodine rich foods.