Some of the amazing iodine benefits in your child’s diet includes maintaining higher energy levels in the child’s body, strengthening immunity, boosting metabolism, preventing hypothyroidism, removing toxins, curing goiter, makes for apoptosis and also reduces cancerous growth in the body.

What is Iodine?

Iodine is a natural chemical element. The body needs iodine but it isn’t something the body synthesizes. Therefore, whatever iodine the body requires must come from the diet. Since most of the world’s iodine content is concentrated in the oceans and seaweed, it is not very often that there is iodine present in your food. Iodine is found in very negligible amounts in food unless added to it during processing, like in salt, for example.

Iodine is important in the body for the thyroid gland to work properly. It needs iodine to create hormones. Low Levels of Iodine can impact your thyroid glands and lead to swollen throat. This condition is called goiter. Therefore, for a healthy childhood, it is very important to maintain healthy level of iodine in your child’s diet.

9 Amazing Iodine Benefits for Children

Maintains high energy levels

Iodine plays a huge role in breaking down fats and complex carbohydrates and maintains a healthy metabolic rate. Good metabolism helps keep the body energetic by absorbing nutrients efficiently and at the same time prevents fat deposition in the body. Fats often make the body and mind lethargic and here, iodine ensures the energy levels remain adequate.

Therefore, to keep your child more active and energetic, you must include iodine rich foods in his or her diet.

Strengthens immunity 

Out of the many iodine benefits, boosting immunity is one of the most important

Presence of iodine in the body helps it preserve hydroxyl radicals such as vitamin C (an extremely important vitamin that helps in repair and maintenance of cells), and stimulates the activity of antioxidants in the body. Antioxidants, when active in the body, lead to a stronger defense system in the body.

Therefore, with adequate iodine in his or her body, your child is less likely to fall prey to illness.

Cares for hair and skin quality maintenance: Iodine Benefits

Iodine is a necessary element for the body to have naturally glowing skin and healthy hair. This is because the presence of iodine in the body reduces the chances of hair fall since it strengthens the hair follicles. It also aids the regeneration of skin cells and is therefore responsible for great, glowing skin.

Therefore, maintain a good dose of iodine in the diet you give your child so that he or she can retain shiny locks of hair and naturally glowing skin.

Boost metabolism: iodine benefits

Presence of iodine in the body keeps the thyroid functionality running. This produces two hormones, thyroxine and triiodothyronine, both of which affect the Base Metabolic Rate. This is responsible for the body’s ability to absorb nutrients properly and move them throughout the body and also helps improve its sleep cycle. The secretions from thyroid glands have a direct impact on cognitive health and development.

Therefore, for proper bodily and brain development in your child, it is necessary that you give him or her good dose of iodine.

Prevents hypothyroidism

The deficiency of iodine in the body could cause many abnormal functions in the body, hypothyroidism being one of them. This condition affects the activity of the thyroid gland and slows it down significantly, which leads to an inadequate metabolic function, which can slow down many other regenerative and absorption processes in the body. This also leads to unmanageable weight gain as the body is no longer breaking down fats properly and it starts accumulating them instead.

Sometimes, deficiency of iodine makes the thyroid gland work overtime and it secretes more of its hormones, resulting in drastic weight loss which could severely weaken the body. Hypothyroidism results in severe fatigue, dry skin and adversely affect brain activity.

To prevent hypothyroidism in your child, provide him or her with a proper dose of iodine.

Reduces cancerous growth in the body

The presence of iodine is strongly linked to the reduction of thyroid cancer and it also has a similar effect on all cancerous growths and cells. There are observations showing the reduction of cancerous growths after one is injected into them. It conserves anti-carcinogenic properties that affect all cancers negatively including breast cancer.

Therefore, if you are providing your child with a good dose of iodine, you are giving him or her a fighting chance against a disease as lethal as cancer.

Removes toxins

It helps to draw out the impurities and harmful chemicals from the body such as lead, mercury and other harmful biological toxins. It has antibacterial properties and anti-oxidizing properties and targets helicobacter pylori (a kind of bacteria that lives in the stomach), which is what causes gastric cancer, peptic ulcers and a lot many other stomach infections.

Give your child iodine in his/her diet to prevent these diseases.

Cures goiter

Iodine deficiency is the cause of goiter in a majority of goiter patients. Crank up your iodine intake, and you can make a world of difference. Add eggs, seaweed, and salt fortified with iodine and fish to your child’s diet. This can help reduce the symptoms of goiter.

Makes for apoptosis

Apoptosis is the ability of the body cause the death of cells which is a programmed part of the body. This is part of the regenerative system of the body. The presence of Iodine in the body facilitates the process of apoptosis in the body, and also kills cancerous cells. Iodine also slows down their tendency to multiply and spread.

Important Sources of Iodine

So far you know the health benefits of iodine for your child, but what are the sources from which your child can get this nutrient? You will be happy to know that it’s not just salt that contains high levels of iodine; there are other sources of iodine as well. Eggs, for example, which is a staple in nearly every household, are an excellent source of iodine.

Other sources include dairy, seawater fish, seaweed, sea vegetables, prunes, olives, organic dairy, and kelp. Therefore, it is essential that you include iodine rich foods in your child’s diet so that he/she can absorb nutrients from food, have a good metabolism and have a strong immunity, amongst other things. At the same time, be wise with your administration of iodine, since too much iodine brings its own problems.

References

https://draxe.com/iodine-deficiency/