Iodine requirements during pregnancy, and for childhood development. Where are you getting your iodine?
Awesome Iodine – why iodine is essential for our health
This BBC Radio 4 programme is recommended listening for everyone, but especially interesting if you are pregnant, planning a family, or are vegan. If you are a vegan and pregnant you should definitely listen.
As good and as interesting as the programme was, there were many unanswered questions and no advice on how to ensure intake is adequate. The take away message was that despite the essential nature of iodine, in the UK many people have a deficiency in this element- women were most frequently involved in studies due to the importance of adequate intake during pregnancy – are deficient in iodine.
Nutritional Therapy
As we all know the nutritional information available to us is both vast and contradictory and can not always be trusted. This is why its great to have Tim Cutcliffe on the Balance team now. Tim is a Nutritional Therapist who has studied Nutritional Medicine to achieve his MSc and he also works full time sifting through the nutritional evidence base and attending conferences. This enables him to give people a balanced and cutting edge perspective on dietary topics, and provide practical guidance based on interpretation of the evidence and understanding peoples habits, likes and dislikes. If you want to discuss iodine or any other health or diet issues get in touch.
View Tim’s profile here: https://www.balancephysio.com/team/tim-cutcliffe/
Pregnancy
Tim also works closely with Jo Fordyce our womens health specialist – https://www.balancephysio.com/team/jo-fordyce/ so between them they have a wealth of knowledge, understanding and insight on negotiating pregnancy without unnecessary fear.
Advice for vegans and vegetarians
Where are you getting your iodine from? There was a serious suggestion that use of seaweed supplements or excessive reliance on seaweed foods for iodine was not a good idea. This is echoed by the vegan society: https://www.vegansociety.com/resources/nutrition-and-health/nutrients/iodine