Mayo Clinic Health Manager
Get free personalized health guidance for you and your family.
Get Started
close window
Housecall Archives
About our e-newsletters
- Free e-newsletters
- Mayo Clinic expertise
- We do not share your e-mail address
Housecall, our weekly general-interest e-newsletter, keeps you up to date on a wide variety of health topics with timely, reliable, practical information, recipes, blogs, questions and answers with Mayo Clinic experts and more. Our biweekly topic-specific e-newsletters also include blogs, questions and answers with Mayo Clinic experts, and other useful information that will help you manage your health.
Housecall Archives
close window
Mayo Clinic Housecall
Stay up to date on the latest health information.
What you get
- Free weekly e-newsletter
- Mayo Clinic expertise
- Recipes, tools and other helpful information
- We do not share your e-mail address
Lifestyle and home remedies
By Mayo Clinic staffIf your goiter is caused by your diet, these suggestions can help:
- Get enough iodine. To ensure that you get enough iodine, use iodized salt or eat seafood or seaweed — sushi is a good seaweed source — about twice a week. Shrimp and other shellfish are particularly high in iodine. If you live near the coast, locally grown fruits and vegetables are likely to contain some iodine, too, as are cow's milk and yogurt. Everyone needs about 150 micrograms of iodine a day, but adequate amounts are especially important for pregnant and lactating women and for infants and children.
- Reduce iodine consumption. Although it's uncommon, getting too much iodine sometimes leads to goiter. If excess iodine is a problem, avoid salt fortified with iodine, shellfish, seaweed and iodine supplements.
References
- Goiter. American Thyroid Association. http://www.thyroid.org/patients/brochures/Goiter_brochure.pdf. Accessed Oct. 1, 2008.
- Simple nontoxic goiter. The Merck Manuals Online Medical Library: The Merck Manual for Healthcare Professionals. http://www.merck.com/mmpe/sec12/ch152/ch152i.html. Accessed Oct. 1, 2008.
- Jameson JL, et al. Disorders of the Thyroid Gland. In: Fauci AS, et al. Harrison's Online. 17th edition. The McGraw-Hill Companies Inc.; 2008. http://www.accessmedicine.com/content.aspx?aID=2877579&searchStr=goiter. Accessed Nov. 28, 2008.
- LaFranchi S. Goiter and thyroid cancer in children. http://www.uptodate.com/home/index.html. Accessed Oct. 1, 2008.
- LaFranchi S. Clinical manifestations and diagnosis of hyperthyroidism in children and adolescents. http://www.uptodate.com/home/index.html. Accessed Oct. 1, 2008.
- Endocrinology update: Imaging the thyroid nodule. MayoClinic.org. http://www.mayoclinic.org/mcitems/mc5800-mc5899/mc5810-1207.pdf. Accessed Oct. 1, 2008.
- Iodine. The Merck Manuals Online Medical Library: Home Edition for Patients and Caregivers. http://www.merck.com/mmhe/sec12/ch155/ch155f.html. Accessed Oct. 2, 2008.
- Bauer DC, et al. Thyroid Disease. In: McPhee SJ, et al. Pathophysiology of Disease: An Introduction to Clinical Medicine. 5th edition. The McGraw-Hill Companies Inc.; 2006. http://www.accessmedicine.com/content.aspx?aID=2091040&searchStr=goiter. Accessed Nov. 28, 2008.
- Nontoxic goiter: Diffuse and nodular. In: Kronenberg HM, et al. Williams Textbook of Endocrinology. 11th edition. Philadelphia, Pa.: Saunders Elsevier; 2008. http://www.mdconsult.com/das/book/body/112198375-3/778390960/1555/77.html. Accessed Nov. 28, 2008.
