August 10th 2026
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WellBeing Magazine
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I have this boring but hopefully inspirational mantra that I roll off to anyone who might be feigning impressionability: that I get out of bed in the morning not to earn the huge sums that have awoken the erstwhile supermodel Linda Evangelista, but to help my patients become happier and healthier, which might set off some sort of chain reaction.
I remember once attending one of those networking groups for aspiring business wannabes — I have to confess I was one of them — when I enquired of the motivational guru who was crudely offering me a rookie discount for his transformational program, how I could encourage more interest in health rather than wealth. Clearly, I was inhabiting a parallel universe. Most folk would rather ride in the ambulance at the bottom of the cliff than stop themselves getting to the top and falling over into the bowels of the awaiting rescue vehicle, he sagely advised.
Which is probably why most of us get out of bed in the morning, get our coffees in a throwaway cup and drive to work in a vehicle belching exhaust fumes into a heating world. Today is an unseasonably and scarily balmy day. If this portends what awaits us, we’re in line for an unbearably scorching future — but who cares if right now we’re just living another day in paradise? Our planet may be in crisis mode, with some experts even invoking a doomsday scenario, asserting that as far as irreversible global warming is concerned, we’ve already crossed the tipping point, no matter which miraculous interventions are conjured up to magically corral and countermand all the pernicious events locked in to increasingly bake our universe.
Seaweed
If only seaweed burgers, now available at various outlets in Sydney, could attain culinary prestige on MasterChef, we all might be partaking of a gastronomic marvel that has the potential to reverse global warming — that is, if we were four-legged ruminants. Of all the many ways that human activity heats the planet, belching forth methane isn’t one of them; otherwise we’d no doubt be doing this without any misgivings. It’s the sui generis of burping cows and beef cattle whose methane emissions far exceed that of the oil and gas industries combined. Methane is one of the principal contributors to greenhouse gases, trapping about 80 times more heat than carbon dioxide.
Intrepid scientists have discovered that aside from being an excellent source of iodine, seaweed also contains an enzyme called bromoform that inhibits the production of methane. Industry has already seized upon this revelation to introduce seaweed into the feed of livestock in this country. This now needs to happen on a grand scale if this innovation is to significantly impact an already overheating universe.
Iodine
Seaweed is not only vital for four-legged creatures and their impact on the planet; its unique provision of iodine is another reason we need to embrace this nutritious substance. While eggs, dairy, cod, pollock, salmon, wheat bran, broccoli, dry pea seeds and hazelnuts contain iodine, its most abundant natural source is seaweed. Iodine, along with iron, selenium, zinc, copper, magnesium, vitamins A, B and E, as well as vitamin D and the protein tyrosine, is pivotal for the formation of thyroid hormones — the metabolic heartbeat of our bodies. Our cognitive acuity, our beating hearts, our capacity to feel uplifted and enthusiastic, our propensity to burn fat to generate energy — all hinge on the presence of thyroid hormones, and iodine occupies pole position when it comes to jumpstarting the production of these orchestrating proteins.
Health authorities, mindful of the fact that seaweed is not a major part of our daily diets, have even fortified our bread with iodised salt to ensure that we obtain sufficient amounts of this nutrient. But it’s not found in gluten-free bread and, as many of us — especially those who have adopted the carnivore diet — might be avoiding grains altogether, a lack of iodine might be our undoing.
Aside from manufacturing thyroid hormones, iodine has a multitude of other talents. It’s an antioxidant, an anti-inflammatory, a terminator of undesirable bacteria. Its other principal function is as an anticancer agent. It prevents cancer cells from multiplying and encourages any cells containing abnormal DNA programming that can give birth to cancer cells to self-destruct. It’s one of our more fail-safe mechanisms for eliminating these aberrant actors and it’s a real shame that we aren’t availing ourselves of this protective strategy.
Experts agree that we should not be ingesting more than one milligram of iodine daily. Too much iodine might tamper with the production of thyroid hormones, leading to excessive or insufficient amounts of these hormones or even setting off an autoimmune process whereby our immune system inadvertently attacks our thyroid glands.
Urine tests are one way of gauging our iodine levels and we can also measure our thyroid hormones to see if we’re getting enough iodine.
Seaweed and iodine offer the possibility of planetary salvation while preserving our wellbeing and protecting our species. As Nike implores, just do it.
This article is featured in WellBeing Magazine 223
The post Seaweed and Iodine: Ageing Well appeared first on WellBeing Magazine.
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