Iodine Deficiency 1: Overlooked Psych Problems

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Iodine Deficiency Disorder: IDD, One of the most frequently overlooked Psych issues on the planet.

With all the talk of the FDA, the black box warnings and drug intervention strategies, why not use a little psych prevention on the front end?

Start by taking a look at this interesting observation at AllThyroid.org:

One billion people (one-fifth of the world's population) do not get enough iodine in their diets, and countless population studies have shown that they have thyroid-related problems. In addition to unsightly goiters, they experience increased infant mortality, infertility, impaired growth, and frequent or endemic hypothyroidism. Most harmful are the widespread milder forms of developmental retardation that cause poor performance in school and in the workplace. These factors are reflected in impaired social and economic development. In fact iodine deficiency is the leading cause of preventable mental deficiency in the world today.

It's an international problem, as you can see reading this IDD newsletter, yet is often overlooked as causal here in the USA, and few psych professionals understand the psych consequences of IDD. This newsletter reports another reference:

Globally, more than 1.9 billion individuals, including 285 million children, have an inadequate iodine intake [IDD].

Let me think for a moment, does hypothyroidism cause depression?

And, yes, we in the USA also are finding significant increases with the relative diminished Iodine in our diets as noted here at thyroid.about.com:

While iodine deficiency was not common in the USA, it is again on the rise here as well. The first National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES I), which took place between 1971 – 1974, found that just 2.6% of US citizens had iodine deficiency. The follow up NHANES III survey, conducted between 1988 – 1994, found that 11.7% are iodine deficient. The October, 1998 issue of the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism reported that over the previous 20 years, the percentage of Americans with low intake of iodine has more than quadrupled. Of particular concern is the fact that the percentage of iodine-deficient pregnant women has increased from 1% in 1974 to 7% in 1994. Maternal iodine deficiency is particularly dangerous to a developing fetus.

In addition the psychiatric symptoms can be associated with a number of presentations in the office:

Hypothyroidism can be caused by the medication Lithium which is used to treat Bipolar Disorder (previously known as Manic Depression).

In addition, patients with hypothyroidism and psychiatric symptoms may be diagnosed with:[5] atypical depression (which may present as dysthymia) bipolar spectrum syndrome (including bipolar depression, manic-depression, mixed mania, rapid-cycling bipolar disorder, cyclothymia, and premenstrual syndromes) borderline personality disorder psychotic disorder (typically, paranoid psychosis) inattentive ADHD or more specifically sluggish cognitive tempo.

Any of these common diagnostic presentations sound familiar? Do they respond to antidepressants? Yes for awhile, but not long term. For the long term we have to look below the tip of the iceberg.

From my experience in the office IDD is often associated with such frequently missed presentations as Polycystic Ovary Syndrome depression, ADD, and PDD.

Take a laboratory look at that next “acting out” 14 yo girl who does not yet have her period, is depressed, has ADD, has acne on her face, her back, and her chest, and seems intellectually dull, with windows of clear intelligence. Consider IDD.

More about office testing and other clinical presentations in the next post in this series on Iodine.

Related articles

• Iodine Deficiency – An Old Epidemic Is Back (psychologytoday.com)
• Getting Enough Iodine in a Healthy Diet (diet-blog.com)
• Vegans May Be at Risk for Low Iodine (nlm.nih.gov)
• Global Iodine Market to Reach 28.11 Thousand Metric Tons by 2015, According to a New Report by Global Industry Analysts, Inc. (prweb.com)
• Is iodine safe for kids (wiki.answers.com)
• Iodine Deficiency Could Spell Big Problem For UK (huffingtonpost.com)
• Does LOW DOPAMINE lead to the extinction of the human as a species? (the-whitehouse-mansion.com)