One day, in 1811, a French chemist named Bernard Courtois was working on isolating sodium and potassium from seaweed, when he made an accidental discovery.
After adding sulfuric acid to the charred seaweed he was working with, he noticed a strange purple vapor rising from the mixture. The vapor condensed when it came in contact with cold surfaces, forming dark shiny crystals.
Courtois had discovered iodine.
Named for its color – ioeides is Greek for “violet” – iodine is essential for healthy thyroid hormone production. And thyroid hormones affect nearly every system in your body.
Iodine helps support healthy brain development in children and healthy mental function in adults.
When you don’t get enough, you can develop issues, like weight gain or loss, fatigue, hair loss, dry skin, memory troubles and sensitivity to the cold. Women may experience heavy or irregular menstrual cycles.
While today, severe iodine deficiency is rare, some researchers estimate that Americans’ iodine levels have declined more than 50% over the past three decades.
The good news is that iodine deficiency is easy to identify and solve…
Why Your Thyroid Needs Iodine to Be Healthy – and What That Means for Your Metabolism*
Iodine is one of several essential trace minerals that are vital for normal development and healthy function of the human body. A trace mineral is one that your body needs, such as zinc or iron, but in just tiny amounts.
For example, you may only need a total of about one teaspoon of iodine over the course of your entire life. But without that tiny amount – consumed in minute daily doses – your health can be affected.
When you were a child, that bit of iodine was essential to your brain development and physical growth, even before you were born.
As an adult, your body relies on iodine to support healthy:
All of these functions depend on iodine because it plays an essential role in producing thyroid hormones.
Your thyroid gland is located near the bottom of your neck, right below the Adam’s apple. It’s part of your endocrine system and is responsible for producing two major hormones: triiodothyronine, or T3, and thyroxine, or T4.
The numbers used in the abbreviation for those hormones are directly linked to iodine… T3 contains three iodine molecules, while T4 has four iodine molecules.
Thyroid hormones regulate your body’s metabolism, which is how it converts the food you eat into energy. They act to stimulate your body’s appetite, digestion, breathing rate and heart rate. They also affect bone growth and skin health.
Healthy levels of thyroid hormones are vitally important for your health, and iodine is essential for thyroid hormones.
Signs That You May Be Low on Iodine
Because thyroid hormone is crucial for so many body processes, getting enough iodine is essential to good health. It’s important to make sure you get enough to sustain healthy TH3 and TH4 production.
Signs that you may be low on iodine include:
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Fatigue
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Weight gain, even in the face of poor appetite
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Intolerance to cold
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Heavy or irregular menstrual periods
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Constipation
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Dry skin or thinning hair
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Learning and memory difficulties
There are other causes for these symptoms, so if you suspect you may be low on iodine, it’s a good idea to talk with a health care professional. She can run a simple test to determine if iodine deficiency is playing a role.
Some healthcare professionals may not routinely measure iodine levels, but you can easily request it.
Tests that can be used to measure iodine levels include a blood serum test, a urine test, or a Liquid SSKI test.
In this last one, you get an inexpensive prescription from your healthcare provider for super saturated solution of potassium iodine (SSKI.) Twice a day, you add three drops to your skin and rub it in. If you leave a yellowish stain when you touch something with slightly wet fingertips, you’re getting enough iodine.
You should work closely with your healthcare provider to make sure you fully understand the results. Together, you can work on what steps to take if your levels are low.
Reasons Why You May Not Be Getting Enough Iodine
There are a number of potential reasons why your levels of iodine could be lower than they should be.
Just like everything else involving essential nutrients, the first place to look is within your diet. Here are some potential reasons why you could be coming up short in this mineral:
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Limited sources of foods rich in iodine – Iodine is a relatively sparse mineral that is found in limited quantities only in certain foods.
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Soil depletion – Contamination of soils by pesticides, herbicides, and fertilizers can deplete source soils of iodine. Mountainous areas typically have iodine-deficient soils.
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Fluoridated drinking water – Fluorides, which are added to many municipal water supplies, can block the absorption of iodine.
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Vegetarian diet – While iodine is found in some plant foods, iodine levels are most plentiful in animal foods. Vegetarians must pay close attention to make sure they get enough.
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Exposure to iodine antagonists – Iodine antagonists can interfere with your body’s absorption of iodine.
As we mentioned before, some researchers estimate that Americans’ iodine levels have declined more than 50% over the past three decades.
These common contributors to iodine deficiency may help explain why. In that same time frame, soil depletion and fluoridation of public water systems have both increased.
So has something many people are less familiar with: exposure to iodine antagonists…
Watch Out for These Environmental Elements – They Can Block Iodine in Your Body
Iodine belongs to a group of molecules called halogens. The other common halogens are fluorine, chlorine and bromine.
They all share some common molecular features, like an ability to combine with metals to produce salts. They also have the same number of valence electrons in their outer shells – seven.
Because of this, your thyroid doesn’t distinguish between them and will absorb fluorine, chlorine and bromine and store them in the place of iodine. They leave your thyroid lacking necessary iodine to produce T3 and T4.
This means these three elements are goitrogens because they can interfere with the function of your thyroid.
Unfortunately, the presence of fluorine, chlorine and bromine in our environment has increased over time.
Chlorine is used to disinfect public water supplies, to sanitize the water in many swimming pools, and for bleaching flour.
Many cities also add fluorine in the form of fluoride to their water systems with the intent of boosting dental health.
Bromines and bromides are found in a wide variety of products, from soft drinks, flour and baked goods with brominated flour, to plastics, pesticides and flame retardants in furniture and upholstery.
An additional goitrogen that has increased in popularity is soy.
Soy can interfere with iodine metabolism. While you may avoid major sources of soy, like soymilk, it’s often hidden in the ingredient list of processed foods, so it’s important to read labels if you’re trying to safeguard your iodine levels.
For Iodine, Ocean Foods Top the List – Here’s What to Eat to Get More Iodine in Your Diet
Increasing iodine levels involves at least two strategies – avoiding the goitrogens on one hand, and eating more foods with iodine on the other.
Most foods with the highest iodine levels come from the ocean. Sea vegetables like nori and wakame (seaweeds) and kombu (kelp) top the list. They can contain up to 500% of the USDA recommenced daily amount (RDA).
In Japan, sea vegetables are eaten almost daily. By some estimates, the average Japanese consumes between 1000 and 3000 micrograms per day.
After sea vegetables, the next group of foods with high iodine content is ocean fish and shellfish, followed by land animal foods. These include, along with the RDA of iodine they contain:
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Scallops – 3.5 ounces, 90%
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Cod – 5 ounces, 80%
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Shrimp – 3 ounces, 31%
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Sardines – 5 ounces, 24%
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Salmon – 2 ounces, 21%
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Tuna – 4 ounces, 15%
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Greek Yogurt – ¾ cup, 58%
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Milk – 1 cup, 57%
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Egg – 1 hard-boiled, 17%
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Cheese – 1 ounce, 10%
Land vegetables that contain the highest RDA of iodine include garlic, lima beans, prunes, summer squash and spinach. They tend to come in around 5-10% of the RDA.
Look for ways to increase these foods in your diet to increase your iodine intake.
To provide an easy alternative for boosting your iodine, we designed Dr. Mercola’s Iodine capsules, with 1500 micrograms of iodine in the form of potassium iodide, a highly stable form that is easily absorbed by your body.
One of the greatest challenges with any supplement is preserving the shelf-life. Nutrients can become rancid or spoil over time when exposed to air.
With this important fact in mind, we selected a top-notch manufacturer with a unique capsule delivery system to produce our Iodine.
Innovative Licaps® Capsules Keep Iodine Fresh… So You Can Get the Most Out of It
We chose an innovative company that prioritizes quality to produce our Iodine. Here is a little of the history behind it:
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Developed the concept of sealing a capsule without "banding" in response to consumer safety concerns in the late 1980s
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Spent more than 15 years developing the unique Licaps® capsule design and processes
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Has been a world leader in capsule manufacturing for more than a century with 10 manufacturing sites running 24/7 in the Americas, Asia and Europe
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Manufactures over 50% of all two-piece capsules on the market today, with more than 180 billion capsules produced on an annual basis
Iodine is delivered using a Licaps® hard shell capsule instead of a softgel. Licaps® use innovative "Fusion Technology" to seal the capsule without the use of banding.
This extraordinary liquid capsule technology provides many beneficial advantages over others because it:
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Reduces the potential for oxidation by flushing the liquid formulation with nitrogen during the capsule-filling process, creating a "freshness bubble."
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Ensures two-piece capsules are hermetically and tightly sealed to significantly reduce the potential for leakage.
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Enhances shelf-life through these exemplary filling and sealing processes.
The bottom line with Licaps® hard capsules… the contents inside retain freshness while the possibility of leakage is reduced to virtually zero.
Meet Your Iodine Needs, and Support Your Thyroid with Dr. Mercola’s Iodine
When Monsieur Courtois, the French chemist, first watched that purple vapor rising in his flask, he couldn’t have known how far-reaching the effects of his new element were.
From heart health and mental function, to skin health, female function and energy levels – and so much more – iodine is an amazingly influential trace mineral. Without it, quality of life can suffer. With it, your body can produce the hormones it needs to maintain all the vital systems that depend on your thyroid.
Help protect your thyroid and metabolic health with this critical trace mineral, delivered in cutting-edge Licaps® technology, and order Iodine today.