How much iodine is too much?

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Iodine deficiency is a major health problem worldwide, but a new study points to the potential downsides of too much iodine. Iodine is a mineral found in iodized salt, seafood, eggs, dairy and some breads. It is used by the thyroid gland to help regulate metabolism and development, especially in babies and children. Iodine deficiency during fetal and early-childhood development is a leading cause of brain impairments in much of the world. So most research has been directed at the effects of inadequate iodine. Less is known about how much iodine is too much. So for the new study, reported in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, Chinese researchers randomly assigned healthy adults to take...

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Vitamin D doesn't ease lung disease symptoms: study

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - In a new study of people with moderate or severe lung disease, taking large amounts of vitamin D was not linked to any symptom relief, researchers from Belgium report. Prior research suggested that up to three quarters of people with severe chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, or COPD, are deficient in the vitamin. So it was thought that giving them extra vitamin D might help prevent exacerbations in symptoms or trips to the hospital because of shortness of breath or mucus in the airways -- but that turned out not to be the case. "Supplementation with vitamin D is not going to cure their disease," said Dr. Wim Janssens, one of the study's authors from University Hospitals Leuven. "It is again...

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Posted in: HEALTH