August 2024 Newsletter
Iodine… what is it used for besides Goiter prevention? Here are some ideas that you won’t usually hear about.
Iodine was one of the first trace elements that was found to cure a disease pretty much all by itself. If the cause of a disease is a deficiency of a certain essential nutritional, then the cure is to supplement a person with that particular nutrient. In the 1800’s, a physician’s adage was: “If nothing else works, try iodine.” It helped with fatigue, hypertension, depression, hair loss, hoarseness, dry skin, constipation, cold intolerance, difficulties concentrating, muscle cramps, menstrual problems, poor memory, weight gain, nervousness, infertility, irritability, bone thinning, a feeling like you’re living underwater, to name a few. The main reason iodine helps all these maladies is that it is essential in assisting the thyroid. Following is a very quick synopsis for you.
Remember, the thyroid is your main energy producer by making Adeno triphosphate, also called ATP. I like to draw little pictures of this when I describe it to people. Think of a plum with three stick pretzels stuck in it, call it T-3. The thyroid makes that and sends it to the rest of you. Every cell in your body gets its energy by breaking apart the plum and its three pretzel sticks. It’s a very tiny nuclear-type rection. The body then recycles the pieces by sending them back to the thyroid for it to reassemble. Sometimes, the plum gets four pretzel sticks, call it T-4. To assemble these little energy packages, the thyroid requires iodine. In order to reassemble them, it also requires iodine. This is called T-4 or T-3 uptake. Like the motor of your car, the thyroid is what makes things in your body ‘go’.
In treating cancer of the thyroid, as much as they can is surgically removed. After the removal, you are given a supplemental synthetic thyroid hormone while you heal from the surgery.
Then, for about ten days you will be placed on an iodine-free diet and stop taking all synthetic thyroid. This really affects everything. I cannot overstate it. Next, you will be given a radioactive iodine pill. Whatever small particles of thyroid are left grab that iodine to ‘make ATP’, which effectively ‘kills’ what is left of the thyroid cancer. Every patient will then be required to continue to take supplemental thyroid now, and for the rest of their life. In my opinion, this one of the few drugs I have no problem with someone being on “for life”. It’s been around for so long that it truly is quite safe and mostly effective for most individuals, whether synthetic or natural, and it’s inexpensive.
In the 1920’s iodine was added to flour, but then that got switched to being added to table salt – as in iodized salt. That’s enough for most people. At 110 parts per million, this gives a typical person about 77micro grams of iodine per gram of salt. By 1950, goiter problems dropped to .5%, so that was enough to stop goiters, as well as the blindness and retardation that came with it. Yet, it is said that every cell in the body uses this element. Large amounts of iodine are stored in fat tissue, the liver, heart, salivary glands, stomach cells, and parts of the eye that have aqueous fluid, also intraocular pressure, even the brain. Iodine is associated with intelligence, and it is used to make white blood cells able to kill germs. The stomach uses it to make stomach acid. The second largest concentration of iodine in the female body is the breasts. For men, the prostrate seems to also store it. While 150 mcg of iodine may quell goiter but it takes 5 to 10 mg to satisfy the breasts. Japanese women have a very low incidence of breast cancer compared to American women. This is also true for Japanese men and prostate cancer. The average daily dietary intake of iodine in Japan is about 13.8 mg (that’s 100 times the RDA in the USA). Their diet is quite rich in seaweed, which has iodine in it.
There have been no reports of iodine poisoning when consumed at those levels. Many integrative physicians have used iodine for decades to completely quell all symptoms of fibrocystic breast disease and menstrual-related breast pain.
How does iodine help with these particular issues? Iodine reduces the sensitivity of mammary cells to estrogen. Estrogen in excess amounts is a carcinogen. Animal studies confirm that iodine deficiency makes mammary glands more susceptible to injected estrogen. Lack of iodine is related to atrial fibrillation and heart arrhythmias. Iodine helps with glucose metabolism by making the insulin receptors more responsive. Iodine is critical for normal psychological development in infants and children. Studies show more than 3 mg a day can be safely consumed by most people.
On the cautionary side, there are forms of iodine that are not meant for human consumption. Amiodarone, a synthetic iodine and any drugs that contain it are quickly toxic. The dyes used injected into the blood stream in different radiographic procedures have sometimes led to serious allergic and even fatal reactions. That’s why a patient about to get a HYDA scan is asked, “Are you allergic to iodine?”.
There are things that inhibit iodine absorption, certain foods known as iodine-blockers. Cabbage, turnips, kale, broccoli, rutabaga, mustard greens, cauliflower, brussels sprouts, and peanuts. However, cooking inactivates the problem compounds in these foods. Soybeans can interfere with iodine’s absorption and assimilation. Fluoride and chlorine are also serious iodine-blockers. Fluoride is being used in the production of dozens of foods and beverages, certain drugs, vitamins, supplements, soft drinks, dental treatments, toothpastes, and wheat flour (if processed with fluoride). Fluoride binds with calcium and was thought to strengthen the teeth and bones but it actually makes them brittle. It can be hurtful to our health simply because it interferes with iodine absorption and hurts the thyroid. Thousands of studies have shown that the symptoms of fluoride poisoning are identical to thyroid dysfunction due to iodine deficiency. Fluorides are cumulative, and the body has difficulty eliminating fluoride efficiently. That’s one of the reasons alternative health care providers object strongly to putting fluoride in the drinking water.
There is a simple test to see if your body needs more iodine. It is not very specific but easy and inexpensive, You can purchase a bottle of iodine at the local grocery store. Make a circle about the size of a quarter on your forearm with an ink pen. Then paint it three or four times with the liquid iodine. Note the time of day and watch this brown color disappear. How long it takes is how needy your body is. You actually absorb the iodine through your skin. If that brown dot disappears in a couple hours you should consider supplementing yourself with more iodine.
Iodine… what is it used for besides Goiter prevention? Here are some ideas that you won’t usually hear about.
Iodine was one of the first trace elements that was found to cure a disease pretty much all by itself. If the cause of a disease is a deficiency of a certain essential nutritional, then the cure is to supplement a person with that particular nutrient. In the 1800’s, a physician’s adage was: “If nothing else works, try iodine.” It helped with fatigue, hypertension, depression, hair loss, hoarseness, dry skin, constipation, cold intolerance, difficulties concentrating, muscle cramps, menstrual problems, poor memory, weight gain, nervousness, infertility, irritability, bone thinning, a feeling like you’re living underwater, to name a few. The main reason iodine helps all these maladies is that it is essential in assisting the thyroid. Following is a very quick synopsis for you.
Remember, the thyroid is your main energy producer by making Adeno triphosphate, also called ATP. I like to draw little pictures of this when I describe it to people. Think of a plum with three stick pretzels stuck in it, call it T-3. The thyroid makes that and sends it to the rest of you. Every cell in your body gets its energy by breaking apart the plum and its three pretzel sticks. It’s a very tiny nuclear-type rection. The body then recycles the pieces by sending them back to the thyroid for it to reassemble. Sometimes, the plum gets four pretzel sticks, call it T-4. To assemble these little energy packages, the thyroid requires iodine. In order to reassemble them, it also requires iodine. This is called T-4 or T-3 uptake. Like the motor of your car, the thyroid is what makes things in your body ‘go’.
In treating cancer of the thyroid, as much as they can is surgically removed. After the removal, you are given a supplemental synthetic thyroid hormone while you heal from the surgery.
Then, for about ten days you will be placed on an iodine-free diet and stop taking all synthetic thyroid. This really affects everything. I cannot overstate it. Next, you will be given a radioactive iodine pill. Whatever small particles of thyroid are left grab that iodine to ‘make ATP’, which effectively ‘kills’ what is left of the thyroid cancer. Every patient will then be required to continue to take supplemental thyroid now, and for the rest of their life. In my opinion, this one of the few drugs I have no problem with someone being on “for life”. It’s been around for so long that it truly is quite safe and mostly effective for most individuals, whether synthetic or natural, and it’s inexpensive.
In the 1920’s iodine was added to flour, but then that got switched to being added to table salt – as in iodized salt. That’s enough for most people. At 110 parts per million, this gives a typical person about 77micro grams of iodine per gram of salt. By 1950, goiter problems dropped to .5%, so that was enough to stop goiters, as well as the blindness and retardation that came with it. Yet, it is said that every cell in the body uses this element. Large amounts of iodine are stored in fat tissue, the liver, heart, salivary glands, stomach cells, and parts of the eye that have aqueous fluid, also intraocular pressure, even the brain. Iodine is associated with intelligence, and it is used to make white blood cells able to kill germs. The stomach uses it to make stomach acid. The second largest concentration of iodine in the female body is the breasts. For men, the prostrate seems to also store it. While 150 mcg of iodine may quell goiter but it takes 5 to 10 mg to satisfy the breasts. Japanese women have a very low incidence of breast cancer compared to American women. This is also true for Japanese men and prostate cancer. The average daily dietary intake of iodine in Japan is about 13.8 mg (that’s 100 times the RDA in the USA). Their diet is quite rich in seaweed, which has iodine in it.
There have been no reports of iodine poisoning when consumed at those levels. Many integrative physicians have used iodine for decades to completely quell all symptoms of fibrocystic breast disease and menstrual-related breast pain.
How does iodine help with these particular issues? Iodine reduces the sensitivity of mammary cells to estrogen. Estrogen in excess amounts is a carcinogen. Animal studies confirm that iodine deficiency makes mammary glands more susceptible to injected estrogen. Lack of iodine is related to atrial fibrillation and heart arrhythmias. Iodine helps with glucose metabolism by making the insulin receptors more responsive. Iodine is critical for normal psychological development in infants and children. Studies show more than 3 mg a day can be safely consumed by most people.
On the cautionary side, there are forms of iodine that are not meant for human consumption. Amiodarone, a synthetic iodine and any drugs that contain it are quickly toxic. The dyes used injected into the blood stream in different radiographic procedures have sometimes led to serious allergic and even fatal reactions. That’s why a patient about to get a HYDA scan is asked, “Are you allergic to iodine?”.
There are things that inhibit iodine absorption, certain foods known as iodine-blockers. Cabbage, turnips, kale, broccoli, rutabaga, mustard greens, cauliflower, brussels sprouts, and peanuts. However, cooking inactivates the problem compounds in these foods. Soybeans can interfere with iodine’s absorption and assimilation. Fluoride and chlorine are also serious iodine-blockers. Fluoride is being used in the production of dozens of foods and beverages, certain drugs, vitamins, supplements, soft drinks, dental treatments, toothpastes, and wheat flour (if processed with fluoride). Fluoride binds with calcium and was thought to strengthen the teeth and bones but it actually makes them brittle. It can be hurtful to our health simply because it interferes with iodine absorption and hurts the thyroid. Thousands of studies have shown that the symptoms of fluoride poisoning are identical to thyroid dysfunction due to iodine deficiency. Fluorides are cumulative, and the body has difficulty eliminating fluoride efficiently. That’s one of the reasons alternative health care providers object strongly to putting fluoride in the drinking water.
There is a simple test to see if your body needs more iodine. It is not very specific but easy and inexpensive, You can purchase a bottle of iodine at the local grocery store. Make a circle about the size of a quarter on your forearm with an ink pen. Then paint it three or four times with the liquid iodine. Note the time of day and watch this brown color disappear. How long it takes is how needy your body is. You actually absorb the iodine through your skin. If that brown dot disappears in a couple hours you should consider supplementing yourself with more iodine.
