Question

You are a super villain and finally capture that pesky do-gooder who always foils your plans. you decide you want to torture him by feeding him a diet that contains no iodine. What would happen to our hero the longer he has this type of diet? Monologue your diabetic plan to the superhero. Bonus if using your villain voice, name, etc.

Answer 1

Iodine is essential for the formation and functioning of thyroid hormone. Thyroid is essential for our body's metabolism and other related functions. It helps in the metabolism of protein, fat and carbohydrates for body growth and development. Iodine is mostly concentrated in foods like fish, eggs, nuts, meat, breads, dairy products, sea weed,etc. Low levels of iodine in diet results in hypothyroidism which is characterized by fatigue, dry skin, weight gain, elevated blood cholesterol levels, mental retardation, muscle weakness, slow heart rate, constipation, etc. Thyroid hormones play an important role in metabolism of carbohydrates by enhancing insulin dependent entry of glucose into cells and increased gluconeogenesis and glycogenolysis to generate free glucose. In the absence of iodine in the diet, the thyroid hormones become non-functional this will reduce the metabolism of essential substrates leading to low BMR, hypoglycemia, etc.