Overload
Iodide imbalance
Category: Illness or disabilities
Type
Involuntary
Introduction and description
The pictures I have chosen for this section have nothing to do with Iodide imbalance. This is my choice, I am quirky that way.
I decided I was fed up with seeing poorly people and wanted a change.
Iodide is an essential trace element in the human body. It is very important for the proper functioning of the thyroid gland. The thyroid gland in the neck secretes a hormone called thyroxine, of which iodine is an important element.
The thyroid hormone triiodothyronine also contains iodine.
The principal problem at the moment with Iodide is Iodide deficiency, but with the increasing use of supplements, Iodide overdose may also soon rear its head. It has also been caused by salt supplementation.
The main organ affected is the thyroid gland leading to Thyroid disease
Symptoms
Deficiency
Goitre - Iodine deficiency resulting in goiter was said to have affected 187 million people globally as of 2010 (2.7% of the population). It is particularly common in the Western Pacific, South-East Asia and Africa. Other nations affected by iodine deficiency include China, Kazakhstan and Russia.
A low amount of thyroxine (one of the two thyroid hormones) in the blood, due to lack of dietary iodine to make it, gives rise to high levels of thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH), which stimulates the thyroid gland to increase many biochemical processes.
The cellular growth and proliferation can result in the characteristic swelling or hyperplasia of the thyroid gland, or goiter.
“In mild iodine deficiency, levels of triiodiothyronine (T3) may be elevated in the presence of low levels of levothyroxine, as the body converts more of the levothyroxine to triiodothyronine as a compensation. Some such patients may have a goiter, without an elevated TSH".
'Cretinism' - Iodine deficiency is one of the leading causes of preventable mental handicaps worldwide, it produces mental deficiency, deaf-mutism, squint, disorders of stance and gait, stunted growth and hypothyroidism. The symptoms of hypothyroidism are extreme fatigue, goiter, mental slowing, depression, weight gain, and low basal body temperatures.
Other - Other possible health effects being investigated as being related to deficiency include:
-
Breast cancer. The breast strongly and actively concentrates iodine into breast-milk for the benefit of the developing infant, and may develop a goiter-like hyperplasia, sometimes manifesting as fibrocystic breast disease, when iodine levels are low.
-
Stomach cancer. Some researchers have found an epidemiologic correlation between iodine deficiency, iodine-deficient goitre and gastric cancer.. A decrease of the incidence of death rate from stomach cancer after implementation of the effective iodine-prophylaxis has been reported also.
-
Autism. there is not one single cause for autism in children, but research has shown that mothers with low levels of iodine are more likely to have an autistic child
Overdose
Hyperthyroidism - After iodine fortification programs (e.g., iodized salt) had been implemented, some cases of iodine-induced hyperthyroidism were observed (so-called Jod-Basedow phenomenon). The condition seemed to occur mainly in people over forty, and the risk appeared higher when iodine deficiency had been severe and the initial rise in iodine intake high.
Poisoning - Elemental iodine (I2) is toxic if taken orally. The lethal dose for an adult human is 30 mg/kg, which is about 2.1–2.4 grams. Excess iodine can be more cytotoxic in the presence of selenium deficiency. Iodine supplementation in selenium-deficient populations is, in theory, problematic, partly for this reason. Its toxicity derives from its oxidizing properties, which make it able to denaturate proteins (including enzymes).
Causes
The cause of deficiency is not enough Iodide in the diet - Nutritional deprivation.
Treatment
Iodide deficiency can be treated by eating foods with iodide in them - see Iodide for a list, failing this iodine supplementation can be used. If goiter is left untreated for more than five years, the thyroid can be permanently damaged.
Related observations
Healing observations
- Anti-diabetic effects of Caulerpa lentillifera: stimulation of insulin secretion in pancreatic β-cells and enhancement of glucose uptake in adipocytes 016981
- Bioavailability of seaweed iodine in human beings 016979
- Enzyme-assisted extraction of bioactive material from Chondrus crispus and Codium fragile and its effect on herpes simplex virus (HSV-1). 016974
- Low-level seaweed supplementation improves iodine status in iodine-insufficient women 016975
- Neuroprotective effects of the cultivated Chondrus crispus in a C. elegans model of Parkinson's disease. 016973
- Seaweed and soy: companion foods in Asian cuisine and their effects on thyroid function in American women 016977
- Suppression of 125I-uptake in mouse thyroid by seaweed feeding: possible preventative effect of dietary seaweed on internal radiation injury of the thyroid by radioactive iodine 016978
- Vitiligo co-morbidities 010134