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Without iodine the thyroid gland is not able to make thyroid hormones. The thyroid gland has rightly been called the "Conductor of the Orchestra of the Body" because it contributes so greatly to our health and wellbeing.

Iodine makes up less than a hundred thousandth of a percent of your body weight, but your thyroid cannot function without this trace mineral. If you have too little iodine in your diet, hypothyroidism and weight gain will occur.

"I believe that an insufficient intake of organic iodine in today's modern diet has led to a serious and chronic form of low-grade hypothyroidism," writes Donald R. Yance, Jr. in Herbal Medicine, Healing and Cancer. Increasing your iodine level will allow your thyroid function and metabolic rate to return to normal.

You can add iodine to your diet by taking supplements, but beware as excessive thyroid function resulting from excess iodine is just as detrimental to the human body as hypothyroidism. You should have normal, moderate amounts of iodine in your body.

The most natural way to supplement your diet with iodine is through kelp – a seaweed - found very easily in health stores. Try and use an organic source. Physicians in ancient Greece and Egypt already knew that they could treat patients with grossly swollen necks, or goitre, by prescribing burnt, ground sea sponges.

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