Iodine Deficiency

What is iIodine deficiency

The thyroid, which is a gland located in your neck, produces hormones that help control your heart rate, body temperature, metabolism (how fast your body uses energy) and growth. To produce these hormones, your body needs plenty of iodine—a mineral that is very important to your health.

Symptoms of iodine deficiency

When your body doesn't have enough iodine, you have an iodine deficiency. An iodine deficiency can lead to goiters (enlarged thyroid glands) or even hypothyroidism[K1]. Signs of hypothyroidism include:

• Dry hair
• Fatigue
• Hoarseness
• Weight gain
• A swollen-looking face or droopy eyelids
• Slow heart rate
• Constipation

It's extremely important that pregnant and breastfeeding women eat enough iodine. Iodine helps babies grow well and develop healthy brains. Babies and newborns who don't get enough iodine may have intellectual disabilities.

In the past, people in some areas of the United States, such as around the Great Lakes or in Appalachia, were more likely to get the condition because there isn't enough iodine in the soil in those areas. However, iodine deficiency is now rare in the United States since iodine was added to table salt.