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Unlike most minerals that can be stored or covered by a varied diet over days, iodine turns over daily. It's the only mineral required to synthesise thyroid hormone — and the thyroid can't buffer a shortfall the way fat-soluble vitamins or calcium can. Skipping iodine this week isn't "covered" by last week's meal.

• What it does: Iodine is the building block of thyroid hormones (T3 and T4). These regulate metabolism, growth, brain development, and energy. Without adequate iodine, dogs develop hypothyroidism — weight gain, lethargy, coat issues, and in severe cases, neurological problems.
• Why food alone falls short: Iodine is nearly absent from land-based foods. Even seafood is inconsistent — salmon contains ~3mcg/100g, tilapia ~4mcg/100g. The AAFCO target is 250mcg per 1,000 kcal. No realistic fresh-food recipe reliably hits this from ingredients alone.
• Upper limit is very high: The AAFCO safe upper limit is 2,800mcg per 1,000 kcal — more than 11× the minimum target. A standard supplement dose delivers roughly 150–300mcg daily. There is enormous headroom. Adding naturally iodine-containing foods like sardines or salmon on top of a supplement does not create a toxicity risk.

• Daily target: approximately 250mcg per 1,000 kcal of food. Your recipe's nutrition panel shows the recommended daily amount sized to your dog's calorie needs. As a reference: a 10lb dog (~200 kcal/day) needs ~50mcg; a 30lb dog (~600 kcal/day) needs ~150mcg; a 60lb dog (~1,200 kcal/day) needs ~300mcg.
• Human product doses vs dog needs: Human iodine supplements are formulated for adults at 150mcg RDA. Your dog's need is calculated from their calories, not their weight, so the dose may be more or less than a standard human serving. Always calculate from your dog's daily kcal ÷ 1,000 × 250mcg rather than following the human serving suggestion on the label.
• Small dogs — extra care: If one human drop contains 300mcg and your small dog only needs 50mcg, you're looking at 1/6 of a drop. At this scale, diluting drops in a measured amount of water and using a fraction of that is more reliable than trying to portion a drop directly. Kelp powder can be easier to portion for very small dogs.
• Single-serve meals: add the iodine dose to each meal individually, just before serving.
• 3-day batch cooking: add the full 3-day iodine total to the batch before dividing into portions — not to each portion separately. The batch is divided evenly, so the iodine distributes evenly across portions.
• Consistency matters: daily is meaningfully better than "most days." The thyroid is sensitive to fluctuation. Build it into your routine — same time, same meal.
• Not a substitute for variety: iodine supplementation covers the gap that food can't close. It doesn't replace the rotation of proteins and vegetables that covers zinc, selenium, B vitamins, and copper.

Cod is the only ingredient in our database with a meaningful iodine value (~113mcg/100g from USDA). Sardines, salmon, and other seafood have modest or unmeasured iodine in available food databases.

Even a cod-heavy recipe may not consistently hit the 250mcg/1,000 kcal target, and most recipes won't include cod at all. A targeted supplement is the reliable answer — and with the upper limit so high, there's no risk in supplementing even on cod days.

Most fresh food recipes — and many commercial raw diets — don't address iodine at all. The assumption is that a varied diet covers everything. For most minerals, that's true. For iodine, it's not.

Bone to Bowl flags iodine as the one supplement that can't be food-solved — every recipe shows your dog's specific daily iodine target in mcg, calculated from their daily calorie needs (250mcg per 1,000 kcal). Check your supplement label for mcg per serving and dose accordingly. The full 24-nutrient panel (visible in Saved & Rotation) includes iodine alongside all other tracked nutrients. This approach is consistent with how veterinary nutritionists formulate home-cooked diets — iodine supplementation is a standard recommendation in every professionally guided fresh feeding protocol.