Organic milk in the news

[Fuzzyduck21]

I've woken up to the news that mums to be could be putting their unborn childs iq and brain development at risk due to reduced iodine in organic milk. I thought I was doing the right thing going organic to avoid some chemicals.

How worried should I be? I take pregnacare but it has less than 150 iodine whereas pregnant women are meant to have 250. I don't eat meat or fish but have lots of milk on cereal and eat cheese.

Wish they would stop giving us things to worry about!!!!

milk is not the only source of iodine, so I wouldn't worry.

iodine is in pregnancy vits.

This story is at least two years old.

The advice is not to take supplements (other than normal pregnancy ones), to if anything drink more milk and to eat fish. Organic milk does have other benefits including slightly higher omega acids which help brain development, and apparently some protection against Eczema.

Don't read pregnancy stories, they are often scaremongering.

I hate milk and never ever drink it. I have two kids aged 9 and 7 and they are both as smart as can be.

Really.... Don't worry!

You could just use iodised salt? Cerebus brand.

Or eat some seaweed. Yum!

The cows are just eating food supplemented with iodine anyways - it's not part of their milk unless it's in their food.

Please, there are so many people who are vegan or don't drink cow's milk for various reasons and they're fine. Iodine, as another poster mentioned, is not only available in milk. I'd stick with organic any and every day.

Surely the number of people who switch to organic milk because they are pregnant is dwarfed by the number of people who just don't drink much milk?

(And don't people generally either eat organically or not? Who switches because they are pregnant?)

i think we can get way too paranoid about these things. so long as you hit most of the targets most of the time, the bean will be fine. s/he will take it from you anyway!

there are lots of things you can start eating if you're veggie and want to eat more iodine though. baked potatoes with cheese or beans. strawberries. bananas. seaweed - bring on the veggie sushi. lots of tasty things to boost it!

Sounds like scaremongering with the backing of a party with a vested interest ie in getting you to buy non-organic milk.

I find it hard to believe that milk is the primary source of iodine in anyone's diet (just as no parent gives milk to their toddler expecting it to be their primary source of iron)

I can never work out how one is meant to get enough iodine for the 250mcg recommendation. We'd have to eat fish every day alongside a supplement, but fish is actually quite restricted!

Thanks everyone you have put my mind at rest! I get fed up of all the scaremongering stories in the news. Us pregnant ladies have enough to worry about as it is! :)

I'm veggie and I ate lots of miso soup with seaweed in it while pregnant. Not for the iodine but because for some reason it was one of the few things I could stomach in the early days.

I guess those of us who are lactose-intolerant are just screwed! We only ever have UHT lactose-free milk in the house because we don't go through enough of it to justify buying the fresh one.

Where I grew up in the US salt was iodized, UK should consider the same given growing diversity, many people of African and Asian origin can't digest milk.

I have just taken a look at the NHS website (regarding general adults, not pregnant ones) and it doesn't even mention milk as a good source of iodine. This organic milk seems to be just a scare story!

You might like to read this thread too:

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/in_the_news/2366171-Organic-milk-can-lead-to-lower-IQ-of-unborn-babies?

It's ok don't worry, there's plenty of other foods rich in iodine. I try to buy organic as much as I can, and I'm convinced the benefits of organic milk would still outweigh its slightly lower iodine content.

not the scaremongering headlines - with further links to more in depth information.