What is iodine deficiency?

Iodine deficiency negatively affects the human body, it affects the functioning of the thyroid gland, which leads to malfunctioning of the internal organs. What is iodine deficiency and how to cope with it, read on.

If iodine is not enough.

If not enough iodine is ingested with food, the thyroid gland produces little thyroxine . This condition is called hypothyroidism or iodine deficiency .

Most often, the first iodine deficiency affects the functioning of the nervous system : a person becomes forgetful, he decreases his attention and reaction, irritability appears, drowsiness appears, immunity weakens . There are problems with the heart and blood vessels: arrhythmia, increased pressure, decreased hemoglobin in the blood.

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Body weight is also increasing – because thyroxine is too small for the energy consumption process to go the normal way, and it is stored as fat reserves.

If iodine deficiency has not been replenished for a long time, thyroid tissue begins to grow , trying to compensate for the lack of thyroxine production by the number of cells. This enlarged thyroid is called a goiter .

Particularly dangerous is iodine deficiency for pregnant women . If this important micronutrient is not enough, pregnancy can be terminated prematurely , and the baby can be born dead or with a serious malformation – cretinism.