By Margaret Jasinska

Most people aren’t getting enough minerals in their diet. Even if you are extremely careful with following a healthy diet and preparing home cooked meals, mineral deficiencies are incredibly common. Modern farming practises have meant soils in most parts of the world are mineral deficient. Farmed seafood is lower in nutrients than wild seafood.

Stress increases your requirement for certain nutrients and raises urinary loss of others. Having excess inflammation in your body also means that you use up nutrients at a faster rate. If your body is lacking minerals, you simply cannot function at your best. You are likely to feel tired both physically and mentally. It can also adversely affect your mental health and cognitive performance.

Iodine – The metabolism mineral

Iodine is an essential trace mineral and is needed for the manufacture of thyroid hormone and a healthy immune system. Iodine helps to maintain healthy cells and tissue in the thyroid gland, breasts, ovaries and prostate gland. It is also an excellent natural antimicrobial.

Worldwide approximately 2 billion people suffer iodine deficiency. Deficiencies are common in all countries including Western nations. A healthy adult has 15 to 20 mg of iodine in their body and 80% of this is stored in the thyroid gland. It is also accumulated by breast and prostate tissue.

To see if you are deficient in iodine, you can have a urine test to measure the concentration of iodine in your urine. Average normal urinary iodine concentrations are between 100 and 300 mcg/L. If your level falls into this range this indicates that you have adequate iodine in your body. Most of our patients are iodine deficient.

Cabot Health has sourced pure hand harvested kelp from the clean ocean waters of Tasmania