Iodine is an essential element playing important roles in thyroid health, and bone and brain development. It is not as often mentioned by healthcare professionals as an iodine deficiency tends to be a rare occurrence, especially here in the United States. This, however, has not always been the case as worldwide efforts began as early as the 1920s to supplement iodine through dietary means. This is most commonly seen through iodized salt, dairy foods, and baked breads as the food industry has made efforts to incorporate iodine in its manufacturing process.1 However, even with such efforts to eliminate iodine deficiency, there are still countries which remain iodine deficient and at risk for adverse effects. As of 2013, there are still 30 countries including about 30% of the world’s population, who are considered to be iodine-deficient though none are categorized as severe.1 In addition, recent studies have shown than that pregnant women may be at an increased risk even within nations considered to be iodine sufficient. The following review will focus on understanding the importance of having sufficient dietary iodine and the possible role of supplementation on maternal and infant health.
Iodine Function and Deficiency Effects
Iodine is essential for thyroid health as it is a major component for the hormones triiodothyroinine (T3) and thyroxine (T4). Thyroid functioning itself plays an important role in metabolic activity and fetal growth and development.2 Iodine deficiency can cause numerous issues including toxic goiter and hypothyroidism in adults. This issue may be more severe when occurring in pregnant women. Overall, the iodine requirements during pregnancy increase as there is a higher need for the thyroxine hor...
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...isk for decreases in thyroid levels, but this does not seem to have a highly prevalence effect on thyroid functioning of those individuals. It also appears that a women’s body is able to adapt to the increase need for thyroid hormones during pregnancy with little negative effect on infant development. It should be cautioned though that this is a topic that should be reviewed periodically as lifestyles and food manufacturing change. Individuals in the United States may currently not be prone to iodine deficiency, but levels may be decreasing based on changes in salt consumption and lifestyle, as well as variations depending upon the region of the country. The main focus continues to be on the remaining 30 countries who are iodine deficient and need supplementation to prevent thyroid related health issues as well as the occurrence of cognitive disabilities.
thyroid due to the birth of a child. This depression can be brought on by
In the 1993 case of the CDC, they found that the number of cases avoided was estimated at 116 NTD- affected births per year. While the University of California study of 1995 estimated that, the number of cases avoided was estimated at 304 NTD per year. Furthermore, both cases found there to be a substantial economic benefit with the fortification of folic acid. The CDC included a benefit of $5 million per avoided case while the University of California estimated there to be a benefit of $342,500. On of the major differences between the two studies and their values includes the fact the University took into account the loss of productivity. Along with this, I find that the time in which the studies occurred played a role. I noticed that the University estimated there to be substantially more prevented cases than the CDC’s prediction. I find that the difference between the two studies could be due to the fact the University of California’s study come out after the FDA’s decision to mandate the fortification of folic acid in cereal products and that there may have been more accurate research or
Agnes was, “the first to demonstrate that a commonly used food preservative, sulfur dioxide, had a protective effect on vitamin C and a damaging effect on thiamin (King)”. She learned this by studying the vitamin content of many important California-grown foods, wheat, almonds, and walnuts, and the effects of processing them. She also was extremely interested in developing the conclusion of why there were so many low weight (underweight) children, and what the cause was driven from.
The thyroid gland is located in the anterior, middle portion of the neck. Many of the bodies’ hormones come from the thyroid. According to Porth 2011, “the thyroid hormone increases the metabolism and protein synthesis in nearly all of the tissues of the body.” (p. 784). When these hormones are not regulated, a thyroid disorder develops such as hypothyroidism and hyperthyroidism.
What if there was a drug you could take that guaranteed increased energy and strength? Not only that, but it came in an easy-to-swallow capsule, it could safely and naturally increase your level of testosterone, (the most potent of muscle building hormones), and it would be perfectly legal to buy and relatively inexpensive.
Hypothyroidism is an endocrine disorder that effects the lives of many people. In hypothyroidism, the thyroid gland does not produce enough thyroid hormone, causing an array of symptoms such as fatigue, weight gain, depression, swelling of limbs, lack of focus and many more. The current standard of treatment of hypothyroidism is hormone replacement therapy with a synthetic form of thyroxine (T4) called Levothyroxine or T4 Monotherapy. The whole idea behind T4 Monotherapy is that the Levothyroxine (which is a synthetic version of the natural thyroid hormone thyroxine) will mimic what occurs naturally in the body, and be deiodinated in the peripheral tissues to become the more biologically active thyroid hormone triiodothyronine (T3) and thus, alleviating the patients symptoms. Unfortunately, this however, is not always the case. For some patients, even though they are in the therapeutic range using T4 monotherapy, their bodies aren’t properly converting the synthetic T4 to active T3. Because of this, coupled with the invention of the internet, patients are turning to search engines in hopes to find an answer that will alleviate their symptoms, which has led to a resurgence in the use of desiccated thyroid products. Desiccated thyroid is derived from porcine thyroid glands, and contain both T4 and T3 thyroid hormones. Some alternative medical practioners are claiming there is more benefit in this natural product vs synthetic, but perhaps we need to take a closer look into the alternative treatment options of hypothyroidism- such as desiccated products, and why natural might not always be better.
Another effect of the deficiency of thyroid hormones is bradycardia. Thyroid hormones play an important role in regulating cardiac activity. T3 binds thyroid hormone receptor alpha in the nucleus of the cell. The T3-TRalpha binds to the thyroid hormone response element, which activates the gene for production of myosin (CITE Hormone ACTIOn). Myosin is a cytoskeleton protein that is important for contractibility of the heart. With low levels of thyroid hormones, the myosin heavy chain-beta gene is not expressed, resulting in decreasing contractility of the heart. Thus those with hypothyroidism tend to have slower heart rate or bradycardia.
Andersson, Maria; Zimmermann, Michael B. (2010). Influence of Iodine Deficiency and Excess on Thyroid Function Tests 28. pp. 45–69
Taking a look into hyperparathyroid, it is characterized as having a excess secretion of the parathyroid hormone PTH and calcium. This condition can be classified as primary, secondary, and tertiary. Primary hyperthyroidism occurs when there is a excess amount of PTH being secreted by more than one the the parathyroid glands (470). This know as one of the most common conditions and is possibly caused by genetics. As explained by AUTHOR the PTH is not under the control of the feedback mechanisms and this causes calcium levels in to blood to be increase (470). Secondary is known to be a compensatory response. This occurs because there is chronic
If the children do not receive the nutrient’s need to grow up, they are more likely to experience physical mental and academic problems. The child body attempts to adopt lack of food by decreasing physical and intellectual growth. A child's formative period needs a balance of nutrients for normal brain development. This is subject in the Nutrition and Early Brain Development article “Shortages of nutrients such as iron and iodine can impair cognitive and motor development, and these effects are often irreversible”.(The urban child institute). So, Long term under nutrition can slow behavioral and cognitive development, affecting school achievement, and heath undermines future
When it comes to eating right, it is important that the diet of a pregnant woman has food energy, protein, with many vitamins and minerals, as this is essential for the pregnancy to support the metabolic demands of pregnancy and the baby's growth. It is then, that knowing the fact that the diet of a pregnant woman should be well controlled it is ide...
Millions of babies are tested each year in the United States by a process known as newborn screening. Newborn screening can detect disorders that will occur later in life and try to treat them earlier in life. Disorders like phenylketonuria a genetic disorder that causes mental retardation in newborn babies as they get older if not treated early at birth and hypothyroidism a disorder of the thyroid gland. Phenylketonuria is defined as an inherited disorder that increases the levels of a substance called phenylalanine in the blood. When it comes to any protein phenylalanine is a basic building block of all protein so that would mean that it would be found in all types of meats as well in vegetables and even milk.1
Research shows that the pineal gland is not only responsible for sleep-wake patterns, aging, puberty, maturity, and IQ, this is one of the reasons for the lowering of the population’s IQ. Fluoride contributes to thyroid problems that affect the entire endocrine system. Abundant variations of fluoride are also in many insecticides for homes and pesticides for crops. There is even fluoride in baby food and
Marginal zinc deficiency: approximately 2 billion people worldwide suffer dietary zinc deficiency. It is now acknowledged that milder zinc deficiency causes some health problems, particularly in children who are living in developing countries. The experimental studies proved the role of zinc supplementation to treat marginal zinc deficiency that causes general weakness and impaired growth in children.
In order to prevent kwashiorkor from ever developing, it is important to make sure to follow the nutritional guidelines and have a balanced diet of carbohydrates, fat, and protein. Kwashiorkor can most simply be prevented by making sure that a child eats enough protein after they are weaned off of their mother’s milk (Rossouw 1989). Often times, in third world countries the children are weaned off their mother’s milk and then put onto a maize diet that does not offer adequate amounts of protein rich food. The Estimated Average Requirement (EAR) “for protein is 0.66 grams of protein/kg of body weight. The EAR for protein increases during pregnancy, breastfeeding, period of rapid growth, or recovery from serious illnesses, blood losses, and burns” (Schiff 2013). The Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends that 10 to 35 percent of a person’s daily caloric intake come from protein. Furthermore, in order to prevent kwashiorkor from developing, children ages 1-3 years need to have 5-20 percent of their energy from protein, children ages 4-18 years need 10-30 percent from protein, and adults need 10-35 percent protein. In other words, kwashiorkor is an avertible disease that can be prevented if infants and children are consuming at