If you’re pregnant or nursing, you’ll need more iodine to support the health and development of your child. Iodine deficiency in pregnancy can result in maternal and fetal hypothyroidism, as well as in miscarriage and preterm birth.
Insufficient iodine intake is considered the most common preventable cause of delayed brain development. “It’s fundamental to a healthy baby,” says April Lind, MD, a board-certified internal-medicine, pediatrics, and functional-medicine physician.
A developing baby’s thyroid gland doesn’t start making thyroid hormones until the second trimester of pregnancy. During pregnancy, your free T4 thyroid hormones contribute to the baby’s total thyroid hormone levels. Further, babies are born with little stored iodine and “rely on breast milk or infant formula to meet their iodine needs to continue making T4,” writes Malini Ghoshal, RPh, MS, in The Iodine Balancing Handbook.
To accommodate these requirements, the RDA for iodine increases to 220 mcg per day during pregnancy and 290 mcg per day while nursing.
Anyone who’s pregnant, planning to get pregnant, or lactating should supplement their diet with 150 mcg per day of iodine in the form of potassium iodide to ensure they meet these minimum levels.
Anyone who’s pregnant, planning to get pregnant, or lactating should supplement their diet with 150 mcg per day of iodine in the form of potassium iodide to ensure they meet these minimum levels, according to the American Thyroid Association, the Endocrine Society, and the American Academy of Pediatrics.
Still, because the window of tolerance is so small, many experts suggest talking with your doctor before adding supplemental iodine to your diet.
“Pregnant women are also more sensitive to big shifts in iodine,” writes Ghoshal, referencing a study suggesting that “women who consumed more iodine-rich foods and who took an iodine-containing multivitamin had higher urine iodine levels and higher incidences of thyroid disorder than those with low or even more than adequate iodine levels.”
Understanding the Role of Iodine
We need just the right amount of iodine for health — not too little, not too much. Learn how to strike a balance at “Why Iodine Is Important for Your Health,” from which this article was excerpted.
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