The thyroid gland needs a substance called iodine in order to make thyroid hormones, and too little iodine in the diet may cause the growth of a large lump on the thyroid called a goiter. Epinephrine and cortisol help you cope during stress. Like the nervous girl about to give a speech, if we are confronted with a difficult or scary situation, our epinephrine and cortisol levels go up. Part of this response includes increased heart rate, blood pressure, and breath rate, which helps our bodies prepare to face a stressful event successfully. Cortisol makes energy available during stress by causing sugar to be released into the blood.
Aldosterone is yet another hormone that comes from the adrenal glands.
Its role is to help maintain the right salt concentration in our bodies. When salt in our diet is too low, this hormone makes us conserve all the salt we've got. In some animals it may also cause salt cravings. After you eat, insulin makes your body store sugar from the food for future use. A few hours later when your blood sugar has gone down, glucagon causes that stored sugar to be released back into the blood so it can be used as energy.