I know you know I’ve had a very public falling out with iodine. First up, I was its biggest fan then over about a decade I became its very vocal detractor. So what happened to create such a change of heart? It’s undeniable that our dietary intake increased and simultaneously the iodine amounts in supplements, without any accounting for the former. And bingo! Bad stuff happens.
And now the NHMRC is about to lower the levels deemed safe for exactly this reason.
Yes you heard me. A full review of the Iodine NRVs is underway and while no changes to the RDIs are being proposed, they have recognised a need to reduce Iodine’s UL recommendations for almost all age groups (except young children). Why? Because the science absolutely supports it. And you know what? I say the sooner the better.
Because currently, we have crazily high iodine quantities in our prenatals in particular. With companies promoting & priding themselves on pushing their iodine content up to the maximal permissible level, providing the full RDI for pregnant or breastfeeding women.
So that presumes these women aren’t getting ANY dietary iodine so we have to supplement the lot? Despite all the most recent data even on just ‘average’ iodine intake revealing women of reproductive age consume 125-150mcg/d from the ‘average diet’ alone. Yet we’re dosing our TTC clients, the same women that are on these nutrient-dense diets we recommend during precon and pregnancy, with the another 220-300mcg/d. And we’re also assuming they have ZERO thyroid antibodies then?!
Because you would never willingly mix these high iodine exposures with pre-existing thyroid antibodies in a pregnant milieu. Right?….
So it seems like we have to have this conversation and change our prescribing practices right now, whether we want to or not. So why don’t we support each other to do that well? Dig into the science together, get all our questions answered, collaborate on new, more evidence-backed & personalised prescribing for pregnancy. We need to stop and act now to protect our professional reputation and role in preconception and pregnancy care not find ourselves to be on the wrong side of health history with supplement safety.
Cracking the Case Series: Postpartum Thyroiditis – Risks in the Rearview, Remedies & Resolution
Odds are, you see women who are trying to conceive or are already pregnant. Odds also are that their likelihood of developing postpartum thyroiditis might be higher than most, but do you always know how to spot this? And from there, how to optimally assess them moving forward to know how their static risks they started with, are responding under the influence of pregnancy and postpartum physiology. If we can be clear about this and their shifting PPT propensity, then what we have is an opportunity for effective risk mitigation. In this PPT case we take a look in the rear view at what her risks were, where we could have redressed these and now ask the question, how to treat the PPT and avert permanent hypothyroidism. This case discussion comes together with an extraordinarily helpful clinical tool summarising assessment timepoints and interpretation along with appropriate treatment with each new level of risk identified.
Join our upcoming Watch Party on Tuesday 2 December at 6pm AEDT to have all your burning questions answered. This will include a BONUS discussion regarding iodine supplementation. You can purchase Postpartum Thyroiditis – Risks in the Rearview, Remedies & Resolution here. Or the full second series of Cracking the Case, which includes this episode along with 4 other clinically relevant cases. Click here to purchase.