Thyroid Health

[Lenny Siegel <lsiegel@cpeo.org>]

===========================================================
Give Your Team Access to Their PCs from Anywhere. Increase 
productivity with a secure remote-access solution from 
GoToMyPC Pro. Stay in touch with your office. FREE TRIAL:
http://click.topica.com/caaccMVaVxieSa8wsBba/ ExpertCity
===========================================================

Submitted by Robert S. Taylor" <RST195005@aol.com>

Perchlorates can interfere with the thyroid's uptake of iodine, which is
 essential for proper thyroid function.  The question is at what 
concentration of perchlorates is the uptake of iodine crowded out, 
beyond the capacity of the thyroid's adaptive mechanisms to compensate. 

The following article does not address that critical question, but it 
does help to provide a bit of context.  First, proper maternal thyroid 
function is critical to the development of the fetus.  Second, a mildly 
underactive thyroid can have adverse consequences for the fetus.  Third,
 mildly underactive thyroids are widespread, potentially affecting up to
 100,000 pregnancies a year.  Fourth, iodine consumption in the United 
States is generally adequate, but it is falling and there is very little
 evidence whether pregnant women are obtaining the extra iodine they
need  (many standard vitamins for use during pregnancy either do not
contain  iodine at all or contain less than the recommended minimum for
a  pregnant woman).  Fifth, getting a thyroid function test (which costs
 around $25) as early during pregnancy as possible seems like a 
remarkably good investment to me, even while experts debate whether the 
$100 million per year that it would cost to provide thyroid function 
tests during all 4 million pregnancies would be worthwhile.   It is too 
bad that we as a country have not figured out a good way to fund the 
aggressive promotion of the public health.

***

WASHINGTON - Even a mildly underactive thyroid - too mild for symptoms -
 may cause serious problems during pregnancy, such as premature birth or
 babies born with lower IQs.

Yet whether to test every pregnant woman's blood for thyroid deficiency 
is controversial. .... Overt thyroid disease increases the risk of heart
disease, bone-thinning  osteoporosis and infertility. Fortunately, it's
easily treated, and  people with symptoms are supposed to get a simple
$25 blood test for  diagnosis.

But some people have a mildly underactive thyroid that hasn't yet caused
 symptoms - only blood testing can detect it - and that's the crux of
the  pregnancy debate. .....Obstetricians say there isn't enough
evidence yet to warrant  testing all 4 million-plus pregnant women each
year to find the roughly  2.5 percent thought to have asymptomatic
hypothyroidism. .... Most Americans get enough iodine, which is commonly
added to salt,  but studies suggest intake is dropping and no one knows
how much  pregnant women get.

The full story is at 

http://www.comcast.net/News/HEALTHWELLNESS//XML/1500_Health__medical/7b15673a-453d-4909-b85d-ed2ad493780a.html

--------- Robert S. Taylor

===========================================================
Empower your Team with Remote Access. GoToMyPC Pro 
provides your organization with instant remote access to 
email,files, applications and network resources in real 
time. FREE TRIAL:
http://click.topica.com/caaccMSaVxieSa8wsBbf/ ExpertCity
===========================================================

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
CPEO: A DECADE OF SUCCESS.  Your generous support will ensure that our 
important work on military and environmental issues will continue.  
Please consider one of our donation options.  Thank you.
http://www.groundspring.org/donate/index.cfm?ID=2086-0|721-0