Worldwide some 200 million people are estimated to suffer under-active thyroid which at any age may disturb regulation in almost any tissue in the body. Seagreens® are an excellent source of natural, stable, chelated iodine together with the full balance of the complementary microminerals like selenium and other nutrients required for its metabolism.

Within the thyroid, iodine combines with other nutrients to produce triiodinine (T3 - 3 atoms of iodine) and thyroxine (T4 - 4 atoms of iodine) (9).

Artificial replacements of these thyroid hormones are available but ‘override’ the thyroid, rather than revitalise it. Regular intake of Seagreens® Food Capsules and/or Seagreens® Food Granules may help to regulate thyroid activity and assist wider hormonal balance. The naturally chelated iodine in Seagreens® Food Capsules is not excessive at about 400µg per gram and surplus to bodily requirement is readily excreted which may not be the case with synthetic formulations.

"Feeding" the Thyroid

Seagreens® contain all the nutrients required to ‘feed the thyroid’. Although iodine is often thought to be the most important factor, equally the balance of micronutrients involved in the delicate metabolic processes which feed the thyroid is critical. Other nutrient deficiencies may be the cause of many thyroid problems, including both hypo- and hyper-thyroid conditions.

Nutrients critical to thyroid health are iodine, selenium, tyrosine, zinc, copper, vitamins A, B2, B3, B6 and C - all of which are present in an ideal natural balance in Seagreens®. Deficiencies in the trace elements selenium and copper (and many others) are common especially where farming practices do not replenish soil levels of the micronutrients. Some biodynamic and organic food has been shown to contain better nutrient levels but this can only be where soil has been improved.

The thyroid affects every cell in the body, regulating cell metabolism like a thermostat. Low function doesn’t produce enough active hormones so the system becomes inert. Thyroid hormone synthesis and secretion is regulated via a negative feedback control system involving the hypothalamus, anterior pituitary and the thyroid gland. Thyrotrophin-releasing hormone (TRH) is secreted by the hypothalamus.

TRH stimulates the anterior pituitary to secrete TSH. TSH acts on the thyroid to stimulate the release of T3 and T4 (thyroxin). T3 and T4 act negatively on the anterior pituitary to suppress the release of TSH. The conversion of T4 to T3 depends on adequate amounts of selenium amongst other minerals.

Selenium levels can easily be determined by measuring hair samples or RBC levels. We understand from correspondence that patients have been able to reduce or stop thyroxin medication after 3 - 6 months on Seagreens® at 2- 3 Seagreens® Food Capsules per day (or 1 - 1.5g Seagreens® Food Granules).

Thyroid and Body Weight

Because the thyroid regulates the burning of calories, weight tends to go up as thyroid function goes down, and vice versa. This may not always be the case because other factors are often involved.

Dr Peter D’Adamo says: “I have also found that (wrack seaweed) is very effective as an aid to weight control for Type Os - especially those who suffer thyroid dysfunctions. The fucose in bladderwrack (fucus species) seems to normalize the sluggish metabolic rate and produce weight loss” (3).

In cases of overweight, and particularly in stubborn cases and in obesity, it is vital that weight reduction and detoxification be carefully controlled because of their potentially harmful effect on thyroid hormones. Canadian research which started in the late 1990s showed that environmental toxins are attracted to and stored in the body fat cells, and that weight loss without proper detoxification leads to these chemicals being released into the bloodstream.

As blood levels rise, levels of essential thryoid hormones which are necessary to maintain efficient metabolism fall dramatically - a process called adaptive thermogenesis. This leads to a concomitant reduction in muscle oxidative enzymes which determine how efficiently the muscles use energy, resulting once again in energy being stored as fat.

Corresponding cycles may be set up where industrial chemicals which act like hormone disrupters profoundly affect several aspects of metabolism and appetite control which may lead to obsessive over-eating and further dietary imbalance (115).

Seagreens® Food Capsules and Seagreens® Food Granules may make a significant contribution at high levels for periods of six months or more through their contribution in cleaning out environmental toxins and dissolving fats in the blood; helping restore hormonal balance, particularly in the thyroid; assisting gradual weight regulation, and the overall restoration of homeostasis.

Medical history charts the rise and fall and rise again of iodine’s place in thyroid and hormonal balance and its medical use in general. During the first half of the 20th century and in the old pharmacopeias, the recommendation for iodine supplementation was 12,500µg - 37,500µg (12.5 - 37.5mg) elemental iodine.

Iodine was used extensively among British and American physicians for both hypo- and hyperthyroidism (118). But research published in the USA in 1948 may have wrongly attributed the cause of hypothyroidism and goiter to the blocking of thyroid hormone synthesis by excess iodine (116) and may have led to the arbitrary definition of levels for daily iodine supplementation in 1969 of 200µg (0.2mg), where 2000µg (2mg) was deemed to be excessive (117).

This was published against the backdrop of the wholesale introduction of iodized salt as the standard for iodine supplementation in the 1950s, along with chlorine in drinking ater and other political/industrial dietary interventions for the supposed good of the general population. The daily amount of iodide absorbed from iodized salt was 200-500 times less than the amount of iodine/iodide previously recommended widely among physicians in the USA.

“The man-made organic forms of iodine are extremely toxic, whereas the inorganic non-radioactive forms are extremely safe...however, the safe inorganic, nonradioactive forms were blamed for the severe side effects of organic iodine-containing drugs” (118).

Despite this confusion, a study of 1,368 patients with fibrocystic disease of the breast published in 1993 reported the beneficial effects of 5mg iodine ingested daily for approximately one year. No adverse affect on the thyroid was observed in some 4,000 patients supplemented with iodine for as long as three years with a daily intake ranging from 12,500µg to 50,000µg (126, 127).

Literature research conducted by Dr Guy Abrahams showed that 60 million Japanese consume a daily average 13,800µg (13.8mg) of elemental iodine, and Japan is one of the world’s healthiest nations based on overall well-being and cancer statistics (119). “Either the Japanese are mutants, capable of thriving on toxic levels of iodide, or we have been grossly deceived, and the human body needs at least 100 times the RDA, which was established very recently in 1980 and confirmed in 1989” (120).

Daily Intake of Iodine

There is no international agreement on a maximum safe daily intake. World Health Organisation guidelines place a safe maximum daily intake at 1000µg whilst the UK Government adheres to a RDI / RDA (recommended daily intake / allowance) of 150µg over 10 years of age whilst in America this is 200µg.

UK Government statistics place the average daily consumption of iodine from ‘an average diet’ at 250µg per day. The British Health Food Manufacturers Association advises that food supplements should not deliver more than 500µg per day which amounts to about 750µg (0.75mg) per day if the government’s ‘population average daily intake’ is added to the HFMA figure. Few cases of toxicity have been reported in people with intakes of up to 5,000µg (5mg or 0.005g) per day although transient mild effects have been demonstrated in individuals who were previously deficient in iodine. Normal subjects with an intake of 1000- 2000µg per day showed increased iodine concentration in the thyroid but no other changes.

In 1991 the UK Government’s Department of Health’s Panel on Dietary Reference Values of the Committee on Medical Aspects of Food Policy recommended that the safe upper intake should not exceed 1,000µg (1mg) per adult per day over 10 years of age - or 17µg (0.017mg) per kilogram of body weight (121). “In all species studied the tolerance is high relative to normal dietary iodine intakes, pointing to a wide margin of safety for this element” (12).

The oblation of the thyroid gland in favour of introducing the antiarrhythmic drug Amiodarone (a toxic form of sustained-release iodine) became effective when the body has accumulated approximately 1.5g (1,500,000µg) of iodine - exactly the amount of iodine retained by the human body when iodine sufficiency is achieved following orthoiodosupplementation (120).

“The implication of such observation was that an iodine/iodide-loading test could be developed to assess not just thyroid sufficiency for iodine but requirement of the whole human body for that essential element... To achieve sufficiency within three months, most subjects required 37,500µg - 50,000µg per day (37.5 - 50mg), and some obese and diabetic subjects required even more than 50,000µg per day nto achieve and maintain sufficiency” (122).

Iodine and Obesity

Obesity increases the requirement for iodine and up to 100,000µg (100mg) of elemental iodine per day may be required to achieve and maintain sufficiency. Another factor involved in the increased demand for iodine is the presence of excessive amounts of goitrogens from the diet and lifestyle (substances harmful to the thyroid), for example smoking...which interferes with the sodium/iodide symporter function...and fluoride...which interferes with the uptake of iodide by the thyroid gland symporter system (and it is suggested that) fluoride causes oxidative damage to the halide-binding site of the symporter...and bromide...and potassium perchlorate (which it is suggested may be) in dairy and breast milk (122).

“In patients on thyroid hormones, rthoiodosupplementation resulted in a decreased requirement to much lower levels of thyroxine and in some cases resulted in the complete discontinuation of this hormone. This decreased requirement for thyroid hormones...was (also) observed in a female patient with total thyroidectomy, suggesting that iodine not only improves thyroid function but also has an effect at the target organ level” (122).

NB. We have quoted at length from Dr Guy Abrahams because he is a credible and still current researcher in this field. Dr Abrahams is a former Professor of Obstetrics, Gynaecology and Endocrinology at the UCLA School of Medicine, currently developing assays for the measurement of iodides in biological fluids and orthoiodosupplementation in medical practice.

He has research Awards from Pharmacia, Sweden (1980), the University of Liege, Belgium (1976), and the Canadian Association of Clinical Chemists (1974). He pioneered assays used to measure steroid hormones in biological fluids and nutritional programmes for women with PMT syndrome and post-menopausal osteoporosis, now the most widely used dietary programmes among American obstetricians and gynaecologists.

See also Obesity