Fortuna Vitae: A Unique Pumpkin Seed Oil with Organically Bound Iodine

A patented innovation. More than 40 years of research. And soon, for the first time through Naturally You, available to our customers in Ireland and the United Kingdom.

Some products arrive in our shop because we discover an interesting ingredient or a promising new formula.

Others have a much bigger story behind them.

Fortuna Vitae Original Prof. Turianica belongs firmly in the second category.

At first glance, it is a beautifully simple natural product: cold-pressed pumpkin seed oil enriched with active organically bound forms of iodine.

Behind that simplicity, however, lies decades of scientific work by Slovak researcher Prof. Ing. Ivan Turianica, DrSc., a series of patents and a fascinating idea:

Could an essential mineral such as iodine be delivered in a form naturally bound to organic compounds, using a nutrient-rich plant oil as its carrier?

That research eventually led to Fortuna Vitae.

And we are incredibly excited to announce that Naturally You will be bringing Fortuna Vitae to Ireland and the UK as its exclusive distributor.

Our first stock is expected at the beginning of October, with pre-orders planned to open towards the end of September.

Want to be among the first to know?

🌿 JOIN THE PRIORITY LIST further below. 

💧 What makes the iodine in Fortuna Vitae different?

One of the most distinctive aspects of Fortuna Vitae is the form in which its iodine is provided.

The product contains organically bound iodine incorporated into pumpkin seed oil — an approach developed through Prof. Turianica's research and explored in published scientific work on iodine bioavailability.

Rather than simply adding a conventional iodine salt to the oil, Fortuna Vitae was developed around a specific organically bound form of iodine within the oil matrix.

This is an important part of what makes Fortuna Vitae different — not just the amount of iodine, but the form and the research behind it.

Iodine itself is an essential nutrient and contributes to the normal production of thyroid hormones and normal thyroid function, as well as normal energy-yielding metabolism and normal functioning of the nervous system.

🔬 Meet the Scientist Behind Fortuna Vitae

🧬 Why is Iodine important in your daily diet?

Iodine — benefits & roles

• Supports normal thyroid function — Iodine is essential for the thyroid gland to make its hormones, helping maintain normal thyroid activity.

• Supports normal thyroid hormone production — Iodine is incorporated into the thyroid hormones T4 (thyroxine) and T3 (triiodothyronine), making it a fundamental building block for their production.

• Supports normal energy-yielding metabolism — Thyroid hormones help regulate the pace of metabolic processes through which the body produces and uses energy.

• Supports normal nervous-system function — Iodine contributes to thyroid hormone production, while thyroid hormones play important roles in normal nervous-system function and development.

• Supports normal skin — Iodine contributes to the maintenance of normal skin, reflecting the wider influence of iodine-dependent thyroid physiology.

• Helps provide the raw material for metabolic hormones — Unlike many nutrients that participate directly in individual metabolic reactions, iodine contributes to the production of hormones that influence metabolism throughout the body.

• Supports the body's metabolic "pace" — Thyroid hormones influence processes involving energy expenditure, oxygen use, carbohydrate metabolism, fat metabolism and protein turnover.

• Important during pregnancy — Adequate iodine is particularly important during pregnancy because maternal thyroid hormone production and iodine requirements increase, while thyroid hormones are important for normal fetal growth and neurological development.

• Supports normal fetal neurological development — Iodine-dependent thyroid hormones have an important role in the developing nervous system, making adequate iodine nutrition especially relevant during pregnancy and early life.

• Important during breastfeeding — Iodine remains relevant after pregnancy because iodine is transferred into breast milk and contributes to the iodine supply available to a breastfed infant.

• Supports normal brain and nervous-system development and function— Thyroid hormones are involved in numerous processes underlying normal brain development and nervous-system maturation and funcion. During prolonged periods of stress, the body's metabolic and hormonal systems can be placed under greater demand, highlighting the importance of maintaining adequate iodine intake for normal thyroid hormone production and energy-yielding metabolism.

• Involved in cellular energy metabolism — Through thyroid hormone biology, iodine is connected to the regulation of energy use at the cellular level.

• Relevant to normal fat metabolism — Thyroid hormones participate in lipid synthesis, breakdown and utilisation, linking iodine nutrition indirectly with normal lipid metabolism. 

Over the years, Fortuna Vitae has accumulated numerous personal stories from people who say they experienced changes while using the product. The stories range from improvements in energy, sleep and general wellbeing to reported changes in cholesterol, weight, thyroid function, blood-test results and other health measures.

The First Batch Is Coming

There is currently a little catch.

Fortuna Vitae is sold out (again) with the producer in Slovakia.

High demand means we have to wait for the next production — and our first Ireland & UK allocation is expected to arrive at the beginning of October.

We expect to open pre-orders towards the end of September.

Because this is our first shipment, we'd also like to understand how much interest there is before finalising future quantities.

So if this product sounds like something you've been waiting for, please register below.

🌿 Why Are We So Interested in Iodine?

Iodine is a trace mineral, which means that our bodies need only a very small amount of it—but that small amount performs an essential job.

The human body cannot manufacture iodine itself, so it has to come from our diet.

Perhaps its best-known role is its relationship with the thyroid gland.

The thyroid uses iodine to produce the thyroid hormones T4 (thyroxine) and T3 (triiodothyronine). These hormones are involved in regulating numerous processes throughout the body, including metabolic activity.

Under authorised European health claims:

Iodine contributes to:

• the normal production of thyroid hormones and normal thyroid function
• normal energy-yielding metabolism
• the normal functioning of the nervous system
• normal cognitive function
• the maintenance of normal skin

For healthy adults, a commonly referenced daily iodine requirement is around 150 μg per day, with requirements increasing during pregnancy and breastfeeding.

And this is where Fortuna Vitae becomes particularly interesting.

Prof. Ing. Ivan Turianica, DrSc. devoted more than 40 years of his scientific work to biochemistry, with a particular interest in iodine, its importance to living organisms and its relationship with thyroid function.

Professor Turianica lectured at the Slovak University of Agriculture in Nitra, where his work included research into iodine requirements and environmentally influenced iodine deficiency.

His research was not limited to one area of biology. The material published about his work describes investigations into iodine and thyroid function across different parts of the animal kingdom, as well as research concerning iodine deficiency.

One of the ideas most closely associated with Professor Turianica is his description of the thyroid as:

"The general director of our entire body, although it weighs only 25 g."

For him, iodine was therefore not simply another mineral. It was a subject worthy of decades of investigation.

He observed, that Iodine is an unusual nutrient because its availability begins with geography. Over thousands of years, iodine has been washed from many inland and mountainous soils, leaving some regions naturally poor in iodine. Historically, this made mountainous areas of Europe particularly vulnerable to deficiency.

Iodised salt programmes have partially improved the situation, but amounts were not sufficient, and dietary changes, reduced consumption of fish and dairy, non-iodised salt and our higher stress levels on daily basis mean that iodine insufficiency remains a concern — particularly among women, during pregnancy, but also after as in pregnancy their iodine reserves may have been depleted. This is also important during other stages in life that are challenging from hormonal point of view like peri / menopause etc. 

📜 Patents & intellectual property

The scientific work behind Fortuna Vitae has also resulted in a number of patents, utility models and registered trademarks.

The official Fortuna Vitae materials list several patents, including patent documents 280314, 258401 and 288349, as well as multiple registered utility models and trademarks connected with Prof. Turianica's work.

For Fortuna Vitae, this forms another part of the product's distinctive history: decades of research, published scientific work and protected intellectual property have all contributed to the development of the product we are introducing today.

The most important thing to understand is that Fortuna Vitae is a source of iodine, in its most bioavailable / active form, natural to the body.

• Relevant to carbohydrate metabolism — Thyroid hormones influence how the body processes and uses carbohydrates as part of its wider energy metabolism.

• Supports normal thermogenesis and body-temperature regulation — Thyroid hormones influence metabolic heat production and the body's overall energy expenditure.

• Supports normal cardiovascular physiology — Thyroid hormones influence heart rate, cardiac output and vascular physiology; iodine contributes upstream by supporting their normal production.

• Supports normal muscle metabolism — Skeletal muscle is highly responsive to thyroid hormones, which influence energy utilisation and protein turnover within muscle tissue.

• Supports normal growth and development — Thyroid hormones are important regulators of growth and development, particularly during fetal life, childhood and adolescence.

• Interacts with wider hormonal systems — Thyroid physiology communicates with other endocrine systems, including the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal and reproductive axes. This is why thyroid function can have such broad physiological effects.

• Connected with normal energy and vitality — Because thyroid hormones influence metabolic activity throughout the body, adequate iodine nutrition is part of the nutritional foundation for normal energy metabolism. This should be presented as a physiological explanation rather than a claim that iodine treats fatigue.

• Relevant to sleep and circadian physiology — Thyroid hormones interact with neurological, metabolic and thermoregulatory systems that also influence sleep. However, "supports healthy sleep" is not an authorised iodine health claim.

• Relevant to reproductive physiology — Thyroid hormones interact with reproductive physiology, and adequate iodine nutrition is particularly important around conception and pregnancy. This should not be turned into a claim that iodine "balances fertility hormones."

• Relevant to breast tissue biology — Mammary tissue has specialised iodine-handling mechanisms, making iodine biology relevant to breast tissue research. 

🥄 How is Fortuna Vitae Oil taken?

The manufacturer's recommended daily serving for adults is 10 ml, preferably in the morning, after a meal.

Children (3–12 years): 5 ml daily

🌿 Why are we excited about Fortuna Vitae?

After more than four decades of research and development, Fortuna Vitae is now beginning a new chapter.

And we are incredibly proud to be there as an exclusive partner of Fortuna Vitae for selling, distribution and market development in Ireland, and the UK (incl. NI).

Naturally You was created from a passion for finding interesting, thoughtfully formulated products — especially exceptional products from Central Europe — and making them accessible to customers living abroad.

Fortuna Vitae fits that philosophy beautifully.

And we're delighted that our customers in Ireland and the UK will soon be able to discover it too.

Where there is iodine, there is life.

🌿 JOIN THE PRIORITY LIST

Leave your email below and we will notify you as soon as Fortuna Vitae becomes available for pre-order.