One in eight women will develop a thyroid disorder in their lifetime.  Iodine deficiency is the most common thyroid disorder.  The thyroid gland produces a hormone which helps the body use energy, stay warm, and keep the brain, heart, muscles and organs working normally.  Deficiencies can range from low energy, dry yellowish skin, tingling and numbness in extremities, Raynaud’s phenomenon, weight gain, forgetfulness, personality changes, depression, anemia, prolonged heavy periods, and hair loss.  Iodine is essential for production of this hormone and we can only get iodine from consuming it.  Components in soy, flax seeds and raw cruciferous vegetables (broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage…) counteract iodine.  These components called goitrogens interfere with the production of the thyroid gland. As a vegan I personally consume quite a bit of these goitrogens so I thought it would be a good idea to make sure I was getting enough iodine in my diet.How can you get your iodine?  Well thats the tricky part, it’s in salt if you are purchasing salt with iodine and eating 1/4 a tsp of it daily.  My family uses little to no salt and we use sea salt which has no iodine in it.  It’s also in seaweed, so if your eating sushi or snacking on ocean plants three times a week your in good shape.  It is also found in dairy products because they clean the cows utters with it and it gets into the product.  My choice was to take 150 mcg of a kelp supplement I purchased at my health food store every other day and honestly I can see some results.  You need to be careful with how much you take, the thyroid is a sensitive little guy and needs the perfect amount or it can lead to hypothyroidism which is an enlarged thyroid  gland.  Check this article out http://www.naturalnews.com/031876_iodine_supplements.html it goes into more info on the aspects of iodine.