Written by Pippa Savage
These days, we’re all trying to take better care of ourselves. From improving our diets to switching up our sleep patterns to trying to get a bit fitter, looking after our health has become a key part of our daily lives.
This can only be seen as a good thing, but for many of us the struggle to up our fitness game can be frustrating. We work hard only to hit a wall and become exhausted. Sound familiar?
The issue may lie in your iodine levels. Iodine deficiency is more common than you might think, and what are the symptoms of iodine deficiency? Alongside skin concerns, hair loss and swelling, you may also experience extreme fatigue.
Thankfully, as one of several future foods, seaweed can help.
Who is at risk of iodine deficiency?
Iodine is vital to the production of thyroid hormones that have multiple functions including aiding metabolism. Despite its vital role, iodine deficiency has become one of the most prevalent mineral deficiencies globally. There are specific groups that are particularly at risk, as substantial dietary sources of iodine are mostly limited to dairy and fish products. This leaves vegans, especially women, who are not consuming these products among the most at risk of iodine deficiency. Whilst iodine is important for daily life, iodine replacement is particularly important for athletes who lose it in their sweat during exercise. This deficiency could put vegan women within the sporting world at a unique disadvantage, however seaweed may be able to provide a simple solution to this.
How can seaweed help?
Despite extensive research into mineral replacement, the importance of efficient metabolism during exercise and a plethora of products available in the sports nutrition market to combat this, little research has been done in mainstream sports science on the importance of iodine replacement.
Research on the benefits of the iodine source provided by seaweed has highlighted the importance of its function in hormone production, and maintaining a healthy metabolism suggesting it could augment the marginal gains that electrolyte replacement is known to have for athletes. As this is a particular issue for vegan women this could play an important role in performance enhancement via electrolyte replacement.
Furthermore, market leading sports drinks (e.g. Lucozade) and electrolyte replacement tablets (e.g. Science in Sport Hydro Tablets) show no iodine is contained within these products in the nutritional information available for them. Seaweed provides a good, natural and vegan source of iodine and Weed & Wonderful organic seaweed supplements are extremely easy to incorporate into everyday life. Weed & Wonderful provides an incredibly simple solution for iodine deficiencies with benefits that could not only improve daily life but enhance sporting performance.
Do you manufacture sports nutrition products?
Seaweed and Co.’s PureSea® products can be easily added to sports nutrition blends, beverages and more. PureSea® Protect is a micro-encapsulated seaweed powder that through unique technologies has no flavour and is dispersible in liquid. Find out more…