Paleo Diet and Paleolithic Diet Questions & Answers

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Would the extent to which iodine is necessary be dependent on the amount of PUFAs you intake?

Iodine comes "with" a large amount of PUFAs in the form of fish.

When you go farther and farther inland, there is less PUFAs and therefore a less of a need for iodine... Still a need but less because of the small amount of PUFAs. Most of the fat would be saturated which is less prone to perioxidation. They are very stable.

When you're iodine deficient and you eat a lot of PUFAs they are easily degraded.

Does this make sense? Does iodine, among other things like selenium, protect us from lipid perioxidation?

This is ignoring things like fluoride and bromide that mess with iodine intake. I would imagine that the levels of goitrogens in things like plants would be offset by the levels of iodine in the soil.

I blame PUFAs. Any thoughts? What do you guys think?

Feel free to tell me I am dead wrong.

Personal anecdote: I was taking quite a bit of fish oil, while eating pretty strict paleo, but I don't think I was getting enough iodine and I think I was feeling the effects of lipid perioxidation. Think is the key word there. I can't do much about the water supply here at school which probably has a ton of fluoride and other junk and I wasn't using salt with iodine in it. I naively avoided seaweed and ate lots of vegetables which clearly could not counteract the fish oil I was taking. I wasn't overdosing on fish oil, though. I stopped taking fish oil and starting using iodized salt and feel much better. Yes, I was dumb, don't let that happen to you.

Disclaimer: Might not have been the best fish oil, I don't want to scare you. Something like fermented cod liver oil would probably be much much better.

So the lesson here is, when you're taking fish oil or any PUFAs for that matter make sure your iodine levels are good?

edited Apr 28 2012 at 23:18

asked Apr 28 2012 at 23:06

Chris
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	What effects of lipid perioxidation did you feel.? – Resurgent Apr 28 2012 at 23:28
	I felt fatigued, had brain fog, sore joint and muscles, poor sleep, dry skin, bags under my eyes. Seemingly poor immune function overall. – Chris Apr 28 2012 at 23:39
	I think you are on to something. Thank you for this. – Kev Jun 10 at 13:19

Chris · Answer 1 · 2012-04-29 01:06:50Z UTC

In regards to what I found helpful:

I live in Wisconsin, with harsh winters, so I probably had low Vitamin D levels. I was also running a lot, probably losing electrolytes through sweat. My iodine intake was probably relatively low. I began noticing a lot of different allergy type symptoms. I had bags under my eyes and noticed dry hair from showers. Normally, this does not happen to me.

My diet was 100% paleo, with some blue cheese because I couldn't help myself. I may or may not be allergic to mold. Not my best idea ever. I was also eating quite a bit of chocolate. Also not my best idea... I was probably deficient in magnesium.

I was eating a lot of carrots, so I wonder if I down regulated my retinol production? I was eating mostly muscle meat from beef, eggs, chicken, kale, broccoli, spinach, onions, quite a bit of olive oil, butter, and some other stuff. Supplementing with fish oil.

What I found effective:

My digestion was off so I stopped taking fish oil. My brain fog disappeared but I was still tired and felt off.

My sleep was off, so I got it back to normal with melatonin and magnesium. Added zinc, and a mineral supplement to get some inflammation down. I had trouble with the mineral supplement with stomach pains and assimilation of nutrients so I increased my intake of Vitamin K2 and used digestive enzymes. Mineral utilization got much better over time.

At this time, I also added in iodized sea salt. I balanced my muscle meat with some gelatin and ate less PUFAs, taking out olive oil and chicken and pork almost completely.

I started to strength train rather than run, big improvement. Maybe I wasn't losing the much needed electrolytes through sweat so much.

My allergies were bad, so I also starting taking claritin. Avoidance of PUFAs noticeably decrease my allergy symptoms.

Recently started taking iodine in the form of Iosol. Had some detox symptoms at first, now I can take 4ish drops without much problem. I also made sure to help my body detox, from what I have read here: http://www.breastcancerchoices.org/bromidedetoxsymptomsandstrategies.html

I upped my salt intake and took some vitamin c and drank lots of water. Be careful with that, please. Also, if you do this replete your selenium levels.

Right now, I feel excellent. I'm still having some problems with histamines from foods like yogurt and cheese. Maybe it's the casein. I'm going to stop eating those for a bit. Also, starting taking Vitamin A (Retinol) to try and get back my skin and that is working out nicely. I'm taking it with Vitamin D.

In conclusion, here is what I did:

Avoided PUFAs. Increased sleep quality. Increased intake of anti inflammatory minerals. (Magnesium, Zinc, Vitamin E from Paprika, K2, etc. Starting incorporating Iodine slowly into my diet. Decreased stress. Took Vitamin A and D, to clear up my acne. Smart strength training also helped tremendously. Controlled my cortisol as much as I could.

Continuing to make good progress. I eat a sweet potato a day, usually. Not afraid of fruit. Still avoid outright PUFAs for the most part but had some pork sausage this morning. Going to continue taking iodine and see how that goes.

Did I use a lot supplements? Yeah. It is wise to use that many? No clue. Probably not.

Disclaimer: Be careful. I am not a doctor. I'm a 21 year old college student, not in the medical field. Read lots of information from real experts before you try anything here.

Even better, see a doctor if you're having serious problems or any problems for that matter.

Violet9 · Answer 2 · 2012-04-28 23:51:58Z UTC

I looked up a previous post of yours which mentioned "acne, brain fog, poor sleep, social awkwardness, fatigue" after taking fish oil supplementation. I assume these are the effects of lipid perioxidation you meant, but please correct me if that's not the case.

It's weird that you post this today because I was just thinking about posting a related question in regards to thyroid, iodine, and acne. My skin has not gotten better since I started eating paleo two months ago. I have just started to realize how rough on my thyroid I've been: tons of vegetables including sauerkraut every day, lots of muscle meat, very low carbs, no sugar, no fruit, no iodized salt. I was diagnosed hypothyroid about seven years ago and took synthroid for a while, but stopped taking it after it induced mania, psychosis and insomnia. Haven't had my thyroid levels tested in a long time but I suspect they're where they were before, borderline hypothyroid.

The one time in my life when I've had perfect skin (like porcelain) was when I went on a long camping trip several years ago, for a month. We had to sanitize our drinking water with iodine drops. I didn't look in the mirror for the whole month but when I got home, I couldn't believe how beautiful my skin looked. At the time I assumed it was the sun exposure, the fresh air, and all the water (drinking a minimum of five liters a day). And I was eating the crappiest food the whole time -- peanut butter and cheese product and Ritz crackers, for the most part. But I've been thinking about that iodine lately.

Many people report improvement of skin issues after adopting a low-carb paleo diet, and even standard low-carb diets have been found to help acne (effects on insulin most likely). But I've noticed a number of other posts on PH indicating that there's a subsection of people who see no improvement with their skin even after a long time (years) on paleo. What I've been thinking now is that if you have less-than-perfect thyroid health, and your acne is caused by dry skin failing to shed properly (definitely the case for me!), you really have to be careful when adopting a paleo diet. One of the external signs of hypothyroidism is dry skin. I don't know enough about PUFAs to speculate as to their role in this, but I'm starting to think most people with acne who see no improvement on paleo have thyroid issues. Personally, I started adding seaweed into my diet two days ago, and it might be my imagination, but I don't feel as cold, and my skin looks calmer. I'll update further after more times has passed.

Iodine Ponderings

2 Answers