[Kimberly]

#1018469

Those of us who are taking anti-thyroid drugs will want to keep an eye on this latest recommendation from the American Thyroid Association regarding iodine intake. The ATA is worried that Americans have reduced their salt intake to the point where iodine intake may be insufficient, particularly for pregnant women. They are recommending that *all* processed food manufacturers add iodized salt to bring intake levels up again. A copy of the article is included in the link below.

http://www.businessweek.com/lifestyle/c … 40181.html

This would be an interesting topic for our upcoming conference, as I have heard some doctors speculate that the reason for the increasing incidence of autoimmune thyroid disease is that we have already gone *overboard* in this country with adding iodine to products.

And the problem for those of us on ATDs is that we don’t *need* any extra iodine, which the body converts into thyroid hormone. I certainly hope that if this recommendation is implemented, that nutritional lables are adjusted to reflect iodine content. Otherwise, patients who were previously stable on ATDs and unknowingly consume this extra iodine could find themselves in hypER territory again.

Of course, I guess this just goes to show the wisdom of the old adage, "if your grandmother wouldn’t recognize it as a food, don’t eat it!"

[LaurelM]

#1065061

The ATA agrees with the recommendations that American need to reduce salt intake in order to reduce cardiovascular disease. The issue is that 70% of the American dietary intake of salt (sodium chloride) is in processed foods. The majority of the salt that is used in processed foods is not iodized. The average American diet has not reduced salt intake over the last 40 years according to the Institute of Medicine which is leading the campaign to regulate salt content.

The ATA is not recommending more salt be added but that the overall salt levels be reduced and that the salt that is used be iodized.

Really, we should all just be reducing our intake of processed foods! Then we can have much better controll over what we are ingesting.

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