“Researchers followed more than 500 women trying to conceive over about five years and found that, overall, those with moderate to severe iodine deficiency had 46% lower odds, per cycle, of becoming pregnant.”
All researchers dream of generating the kind of results that are ground-breaking but sometimes you read about the latest study’s findings and you think, ‘Really, you spent all your time & cleverness for years on this and that’s all you have to show for it!’ Like the study that finally confirmed dog’s can feel empathy (at last thank goodness …phew…cos I had my doubts until they crunched the numbers!)
So too a study published this month on the possibility that iodine deficiency is common in women trying to conceive in developed countries and may be connected to increasing fertility issues.
Stop press! I know…that made you spill your coffee!
But all tongue in cheek aside (my own research didn’t change the world as far as I know!) I am pleased to see this link between suboptimal iodine and infertility hit the mainstream AND they corrected the urinary iodine amount for creatinine which I have been advocating for…forever!! So it just might get more practitioners on board with considering this.
“Our finding that moderate deficiency is associated with difficulty conceiving has important public health implications…We were surprised that moderate to severe deficiency was so common and that it reduced the chance of a woman becoming pregnant by almost 50% in each menstrual cycle.”
Alas they go on to say…they’re basically not sure what practitioners should do with this information given there’s no way to accurately assess iodine status in an individual…but..oh well. Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr….
Want something more concrete and practical about how to assess iodine and thyroid health in your preconception care patients? Thyroid Assessment in Preconception, Pregnancy & Post-Partum covers the absolute must-knows about thyroid markers prior to conception and trimester specific knowledge regarding thyroid physiology. What do we risk if thyroid imbalance goes unrecognised – for baby? for mum? and how can we better prevent against this? Better clinician assessment translates into improved diagnosis, management and pregnancy outcomes for mother and baby.