10.6 Mineral: Iodine, Zinc, Fluoride, Selenium

– WELCOME TO THE LAST SECTION IN OUR SERIES ON MINERALS. THIS SECTION IS COVERING IODINE, ZINC, FLUORIDE, AND SELENIUM. WE’RE GOING TO START WITH IODINE. IODINE IS A COMPONENT OF THYROID HORMONE.

AND THYROID HORMONE REGULATES GROWTH DEVELOPMENT AND METABOLISM, SO THIS MEANS THAT IODINE IS IMPORTANT IN GROWTH DEVELOPMENT AND METABOLISM. IODINE DEFICIENCY IS ACTUALLY VERY RARE. AND IF WE LOOK AT THIS MAP FROM THE WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION, YOU CAN SEE THE AREAS IN RED, WHICH WOULD BE THE HIGHEST OCCURRENCE OR INCIDENCE OF IODINE DEFICIENCY. YOU CAN SEE THERE JUST IN VERY SMALL SECTIONS WITH SOME SECTIONS THROUGHOUT AFRICA, BUT VERY LOW OCCURRENCE IN FIRST WORLD NATIONS.

WHAT DEFICIENCY RESULTS IN, PARTICULARLY SEVERE DEFICIENCY, IS A GOITER. NOW, WHAT A GOITER IS ESSENTIALLY AN ENLARGEMENT AROUND THE THYROID. IF YOU THINK ABOUT YOUR THYROID BEING RIGHT HERE, AND IF YOU EVER HAD A PHYSICAL EXAM YOU’LL FEEL YOUR DOCTOR FEEL RIGHT IN THIS AREA TO SEE IF THERE’S ANY ENLARGEMENT. THIS, OF COURSE, IS A VERY SEVERE CASE IN ONE OF THE DEVELOPING NATIONS.

WE DON’T SEE THIS MUCH IN THE DEVELOPED COUNTRIES. CRETINISM IS ALSO ANOTHER RESULT OF SEVERE IRON DEFICIENCY, AND THIS IS ESSENTIALLY IRREVERSIBLE MENTAL AND PHYSICAL RETARDATIONS. SO IT’S GOING TO OCCUR DURING GROWTH, SO IODINE DEFICIENCY DURING GROWTH. ON A LESSER LEVEL, SMALLER, NOT SEVERE DEFICIENCIES, BUT MODERATE OR MILD DEFICIENCIES CAN BE A CONTRIBUTING FACTOR FOR BREAST AND STOMACH CANCER, AND EVEN AUTISM.

SO WHERE DO WE GET OUR IODINE? ACTUALLY, WE GET IT FROM SALT FORTIFICATION. AND IF YOU LOOK AT YOUR SALT, IF YOU BUY ONE OF THE BIG CARDBOARD SALT CONTAINERS YOU’LL SEE IT’S IODIZED SALT. SO THAT MEANS THAT IODINE HAS BEEN ADDED TO SALT AND THAT WAY NO ONE GETS AN IODINE DEFICIENCY BECAUSE NATURALLY OCCURRING SOURCES OF IODINE ARE ACTUALLY QUITE RARE. THEY’RE USUALLY FOUND IN THE OCEAN: COD, SEAWEED, SHRIMP, TUNA, OTHER THAN THAT THERE AREN’T THAT MANY GOOD SOURCES OF IODINE.

YOU CAN FIND SOME IN NAVY BEANS AND POTATOES. AND IF YOU’RE EATING AN ABUNDANT AMOUNT OF PLANT FOOD AS WELL AS SOME SEAFOOD, YOU’LL GET LITTLE BITS AND [INAUDIBLE] PROBABLY BE FINE WITHOUT THE ADDITION OF THE FORTIFIED SALT. MOVING ON TO ZINC. ZINC IS EXTREMELY IMPORTANT, EVEN THOUGH WE ONLY NEED IT IN SMALL AMOUNTS, BECAUSE IT HAS A ROLE IN REGULATING A NUMBER OF DIFFERENT FUNCTIONS IN THE BODY.

AND THIS IS FROM REGULATING GENES TO BEING INVOLVED IN CELL SIGNALING. IT ALSO HAS A ROLE IN MANY OF THE STRUCTURAL FUNCTIONS IN THE BODY OR WHEN WE THINK OF BUILDING UP PROTEINS, OR BEING COMPONENTS OF CELL MEMBRANES. OVER 300 ENZYMES ACTUALLY DEPEND ON ZINC. AND WHEN YOU THINK OF ZINC, YOU THINK OF IT BEING IMPORTANT IN IMMUNITY AND WOUND HEALING.

AND IT DOES HAVE VERY IMPORTANT ROLES IN THESE AREAS. DEFICIENCY IS VERY RARE, BUT IT CAN CAUSE DELAYED GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT. THAT’S ONLY IN THE SEVERE DEFICIENCY. ALSO, CAN HAVE IMPAIRED AND NEUROLOGICAL DEVELOPMENT.

AND THIS IS WHAT WE SEE IN A MARGINAL DEFICIENCY. SO A SEVERE DEFICIENCY IS ACTUALLY GOING TO BE A STUNTED GROWTH IN NEUROLOGICAL DEVELOPMENT, BUT VERY MILDER MARGINAL DEFICIENCY YOU MIGHT SEE JUST A LITTLE BIT OF AN IMPAIRED GROWTH OR A LITTLE BIT OF AN IMPAIRED DEVELOPMENT. ON TO FLUORIDE; FLUORIDE IS A COMPONENT OF BOTH BONES AND TEETH. MOST PEOPLE THINK OF IT AS BEING PART OF YOUR TEETH AND WHEN YOU THINK OF DEFICIENCY YOU THINK OF CAVITIES; WE CALL THEM DENTAL CARIES, BUT YOU CAN SEE ALL THESE EXAMPLES, YOU KNOW, AN X-RAY OR, YOU KNOW, WHAT DENTAL CARIES LOOK LIKE.

SO DEFICIENCY OF FLUORIDE IS A RESULT OF THIS, WHICH IS WHY YOU GO TO YOUR DENTIST, YOU HAVE FLUORIDE TREATMENTS, WHY YOU BRUSH WITH A FLUORIDE TOOTHPASTE. IF YOU’RE GETTING TOO MUCH FLUORIDE WE HAVE FLUORIDE TOXICITY. IT’S CALLED FLUOROSIS AND YOU CAN ACTUALLY LOOK HERE AND YOU CAN SEE THIS WHITE AREA, AND THAT’S ACTUALLY CALLED A FLUOROSIS OR A FLUORIDE TOXICITY MEANING THAT YOU’RE GETTING TOO MUCH. SO WHERE DO WE GET FLUORIDE? WELL, IT’S ANOTHER FORTIFICATION IN TAP WATER.

THE WATER IS CHLORINATED AND A LOT OF PEOPLE ARE AGAINST THIS FOR A NUMBER OF REASONS, SO I’M NOT GOING TO GO INTO THIS DEBATE, BUT SOME PEOPLE THINK THIS CAN ACTUALLY BE DETRIMENTAL TO HEALTH. BUT NATURALLY OCCURRING SOURCES OF FLUORIDE ARE HARD TO COME BUY IN TEA AND FRUIT JUICE CRAP. THEY’RE A LITTLE BIT IN A VARIETY OF SOURCES, BUT IT’S NOT ABUNDANT. SO THIS IS WHY THE GOVERNMENT HAS TAKEN ON TO FORTIFY BOTH SALT AS WELL AS TAP WATER.

I’M GOING TO FINISH WITH SELENIUM AND I’M JUST GOING TO MENTION THESE TWO POINTS, AND THIS WILL BE ON YOUR TEST SO THAT’S WHY I WANT YOU TO KNOW IT. BUT SELENIUM IS A MINERAL THAT’S ALSO AN ANTIOXIDANT. AND REMEMBER WHEN WE COVERED VITAMINS WE TALKED ABOUT VITAMIN C AND E BOTH BEING ANTIOXIDANTS. SO THESE THREE ACTUALLY WORK TOGETHER IN AN ANTIOXIDANT CAPACITY MEANING THEY ALL WORK TOGETHER AS ANTIOXIDANTS.

AND THIS IS GOING TO BE THE END OF OUR SECTION ON [INAUDIBLE] IN MINERALS.

Source: Christine Dobrowolski