Natural iodine food supplement: energy, thyroid & cognition

Natural Iodine is an extract of Ascophyllum nodosum delivered in vegetarian capsules, to provide a healthy intake of iodine without consuming excess salt.

What are the health benefits associated with Natural Iodine?

Are you aware of just how important iodine is for our health? This trace element is integral to the healthy functioning of the human body. It plays a role in regulating:

• Body temperature.
• Reproduction.
• Growth.
• General metabolism.
• Heart function.
• The formation of blood cells.
• The development of the nervous system.

With its high content in Ascophyllum nodosum, Natural Iodine offers two key benefits.

It supports efforts to reduce salt intake

If your doctor has recommended you reduce your salt intake, you’d be well-advised to use Natural Iodine to maintain a healthy level of iodine. Reducing your salt intake will also reduce that of your iodine. Supplementing with iodine extracted from seaweed is consistent with respecting these preventive health measures since its sodium content is a tenth of that of salt for the same amount of iodine. This is a significant advantage in combatting hypertension – the ‘silent killer’ – without adversely affecting your iodine levels.

It helps with weight control (as a slimming supplement)

Until very recently, this product had been prescribed rather experimentally by doctors and naturopaths, but its credibility has been boosted with the identification by in-depth scientific research of a number of benefits: metabolic effects, efficacy at ‘detoxing/draining’ in the case of sluggish digestion, and the ability to inhibit certain enzymes that help maintain high blood glucose levels. It is this last property which is responsible for sugars remaining in the body for longer, and as a result, leading to persistent excess weight.

Why is it important to supplement with iodine?

Too little iodine can lead to enlargement of the thyroid gland and impaired thyroid function, which in turn can result in cardiac disorders (palpitations) and weight problems. It is thus essential to ensure a balanced intake of iodine, taking care to check its provenance in order to ensure an adequate content. It’s worth noting that 2-3% of the population suffers from hypothyroidism, the main symptoms of which are weight gain, fatigue, muscle weakness, brittle hair and nails and increased sensitivity to cold. Such individuals are normally deficient in iodine, have poor pituitary gland function or suffer from auto-immune diseases.

At present, however, iodine deficiency is relatively rare, the reason being that some years ago, the health authorities decided to take steps to prevent such deficiency by adding iodine to table salt. In other words, most people depend on salt and salted foods (such as ham, ready meals or savoury crackers) for an adequate iodine intake. Yet salt is known to have a particularly adverse effect on blood pressure and vascular health in general. What’s more, average salt intake in all Western countries is much higher than that recommended by the World Health Organization (a maximum of 5g a day), regularly exceeding as much as 20g a day.

What are the best sources of iodine?

While lowering salt consumption is essential, it’s nonetheless important to maintain your intake of iodine. To do so, you need to eat naturally iodine-rich foods - which are not that plentiful in the diet. Among the best sources are seafood, fish (anchovies, sardines, mackerel etc) and certain types of seaweed such as Ascophyllum nodosum, also known as ‘knotted wrack’ or ‘kelp’ in North America. This is a particularly useful source of iodine as it also contains specific polysaccharides called fucans which offer a number of health benefits. It’s widely used as a replacement for salt, an aid to slimming diets as well as for its nutritional properties. When ingested in sufficient amounts, it thus contributes to:

• Normal child growth.
• Good metabolic function.
• Maintaining cognitive function.
• Ensuring a balanced nervous system.
• Production of thyroid hormones.

Given that the WHO also recommends restricting fish consumption (due to methylmercury exposure which is toxic to the human central nervous system), seaweed constitutes by far the best option for ensuring a healthy iodine intake. There are also other algae which are highly beneficial to health such as spirulina (the best extract being, without doubt, Spirulina 498.5 mg).