Why Iodine?
By Jan Slama
Iodine is one of 67 so far identified minerals essential for human life and health. Around the turn of the 20th Century, iodine was called “The Universal Medicine.” Nobel Laureate Albert Szent Györgyi, the physician who discovered Vitamin C in 1928, commented: “When I was a medical student, iodine in the form of KI was the universal medicine. Nobody knew what it did, but it did something and did something good."
That was then. This is now.
Current farming practices dictate that farmers add just 3 minerals back to their farmland. Those three -- Potassium, Nitrogen, Phosphorus are found in most fertilizers. Farming has depleted the other trace minerals including iodine content, so iodine and many other of our minerals are no longer available in the plants we consume in sufficient quantities to maintain optimum health. Because it was recognized back in the mid 1930s that iodine is a necessary nutrient, it was added to milk, salt and bread. Today iodine is no longer added to bread or to milk, and the amount of iodine added to salt has been steadily reduced, most of even that minute amount is gone long before it gets to your table, anyway.
An estimated 90% of us have Iodine Deficiency, which can result in:
· Thyroid Goiter Risk of cancer doubles for women on thyroid medication (This means Doctors’ meds. It does not refer to iodine) And it more than triples for those who have had no children (1976 JAMA).
· Cretinism Severely stunted physical and mental growth due to untreated congenital deficiency of thyroid hormones (congenital hypothyroidism) Goiter and cretinism are evidence of extremely severe iodine deficiency
· Thyroid cancer
· Fibrocystic breast disease (painful breasts with nodules and cysts) 93% of American women have this condition, which can be a precursor to Breast Cancer
· Breast cancer
· Dry skin 20% of all iodine in the human body is stored in the skin
· Decreased ability to sweat
· Achlorhydria (lack of digestive acid production) Because Iodine is used by the stomach to produce hydrochloric acid (digestive acid), an Iodine deficiency means you get no or little benefit from the supplements you take and the food you eat. You may be no better off than those who live in a third world country, because you are starving to death, even as you grow fatter! Supplementation with iodine may also replace the need for Tums and Rolaids, if you’ve struggled with heartburn, which is not an excess of stomach acid, but a recycling of stomach acid, which in turn burns your esophagus. Taking 2 or 3 Hyrdrochloric Acid capsules with meals will alleviate heartburn and may be discontinued after a couple of weeks.
· Stomach cancer can be result of prolonged Achlorhydria
· Dry eyes
· Dry mouth
· Cysts in the ovaries (polycystic ovaries)
· Thyroid Hormone Deficiency also is associated with decreased heart contractility and increased resistance in peripheral veins of the body as well as with the changes in cholesterol and triglycerides.
· Bone Health Because Iodine goes immediately to our bones, the thyroid hormone makes our bones grow, mature and heal.
· Fuzzy Thinking and/or memory problems Often these improve and in many cases completely disappear within a few weeks of beginning supplementation.
· Heavy Metal Chelation of Mercury, Lead, Cadmium and Aluminum and halogens such as Fluoride and Bromide. This an especially attractive benefit during these times of constant radiation from not only the EMF and WiFi devices we all live around, but also the continuing deadly radiation bombardment from Fukushima and the assault from Chernobyl’s ongoing radiation emissions.
Benefits of Iodine Supplementation:
· Iodine eliminates toxins stored in fat, especially bromine which may cause detox symptoms such as pimples and headaches. You may find you have a few pimples as the Iodine begins to detox your body. Other detox symptoms may be fatigue, muscle aches, fever, diarrhea, and brain fog, and skin rashes, depending on the severity of your heavy metals intoxification.
· Lugol's treats gout caused by high uric acid in the blood. The uric acid is deposited on the articular cartilage of joints, tendons, and surrounding tissues causing excruciating pain.
· Antiseptic when used topically on the skin for infection and sepsis.
· Opens up blocked arteries
· Disinfects water
· Cures bladder infections
· Proven to reduce or eliminate ovarian cysts
· Diminishes unsightly keloids,
· loosens phlegm
· reduce or eliminate Peyronie’s Disease and Dupuytron’s contracture
· Increases the antioxidant status of human serum similar to that of vitamin C
Sources of Iodine
Thanks to Dr. Mercola’s site for this chart
Food | Serving | Iodine (mcg) |
Salt (iodized) | 1 gram | 77 |
Cod | 3 ounces* | 99 |
Shrimp | 3 ounces | 35 |
Fish sticks | 2 fish sticks | 35 |
Tuna, canned in oil | 3 ounces (1/2 can) | 17 |
Milk (cow's) | 1 cup (8 fluid ounces) | 56 |
Egg, boiled | 1 large | 29 |
Navy beans, cooked | 1/2 cup | 35 |
Potato with peel, baked | 1 medium | 63 |
Turkey breast, baked | 3 ounces | 34 |
Seaweed | 1 ounce, dried | Variable; may be greater than 18,000 mcg (18 mg) |
Because seaweed sold in the United States has an extreme variation in the amount of iodine content, it is not a reliable source of iodine, and it may even be polluted because of the heavy metal content of the oceans. The most reliable source of Iodine is Lugol’s 5% Iodine, because it is consistent and administered in easily controlled drops. It is two and a half times stronger than Lugol’s 2%. Because of this stronger concentration, you don’t need to buy more bottles to equal the same amount. Another benefit is that directions are standardized for 5% easy administration.
How Much Is Enough?
In non-obese people, whose system for transporting iodine is functioning properly, these concentrations can be achieved with daily intake of 12.5 mg to 50 mg ( 50 mg is equal to 50,000 mcg.) elemental iodine. The adult body retains approximately 1.5 gm iodine at sufficiency. When the body has stored enough, the excess ingested iodine is excreted in the urine as iodide.
Dr. Guy Abraham concluded that whole body sufficiency exists when a person excretes 90 percent of the iodine ingested. He devised an iodine-loading test where a 50 mg dose is taken and the amount excreted in the urine over the next 24 hours is measured. He found that the vast majority of people retain a substantial amount of the 50 mg dose. Many require 50 mg a day for several months before they will excrete 90 percent of it. His studies indicate that, given a sufficient amount, the body will retain much more iodine than originally thought, 1,500 mg, with only 3 percent of that amount held in the thyroid gland.
As with beginning any new supplement, start small and increase as necessary.
Conversion Chart for 5% Lugol’s:
2 drops = 12.5 mg.
4 drops = 25 mg.
8 drops = 50 mg
Please remember that ingested fluoride competes with iodine on the body’s receptors. Because our iodine intake has been decreasing over the years, fluoride has been added to our water with the idea of preventing cavities. This is an erroneous supposition. Scientifically, it makes better sense to add more iodine. While salt has been touted as supplying necessary Iodine, about 50% of the salt sold in the US and India has no iodine, but has been replaced with Bromine, another toxic substance like Fluoride, and has even been completely removed from bread.
ILLNESS
If you are fighting a bacterial or viral infection such as cold, flu, or strep, you may want to increase the dosage beyond this.
In an 8 oz. glass of distilled water or juice, add 50 mg. or 8 drops of 5% Lugol’s. This should be taken 20 minutes before eating to allow for absorption. Repeat daily until symptoms subside.
Precautions
Sudden, large doses of iodine may impair the production of thyroid hormones, causing hypothyroidism temporarily in someone with otherwise normal thyroid function. Excessive iodine intake can also increase the risk for other thyroid diseases such as Hashimoto's, Graves', certain thyroid cancers, and thyrotoxicosis (a dangerous condition due to an excessive amount of thyroid hormones in the bloodstream).
Do the iodine skin test to see if you actually are sufficient. VERY rarely does anyone demonstrate sufficient iodine unless they have ingested seaweed, sea salt, sea food, etc. at a high level for a long time. That rarely happens in the USA. However, it may be commonplace in some of the Asian countries where they eat more from the sea.
THE IODINE TEST:
Place one drop of iodine on your skin, an arm or abdomen is fine. Smear it around to about the size of a quarter. Let it dry. Check it every hour. When the color disappears, note the number of hours. Under 4 hours is recognized as being seriously deficient. Around 8 hours is approaching a healthier amount. Twenty four hours indicates a sufficiency. Because certain foods can interfere with iodine absorption, you may want to do the test on a couple of different days and compare the results.
As you begin your iodine supplementation, be sure to check with the skin test each month so you can see where your levels are and keep an eye on your thyroid function to make sure you are not getting too much.
What happens if you over dose?
There is a case report in the medical literature of a 54-year-old man who, thinking it was iced tea, drank a "home preparation" of SSKI (Lugol’s) in water that his aunt kept in the refrigerator for her rheumatism. Over a short period of time he consumed 600 ml. of this solution, which contained 15 gm of iodide, an amount 100,000 times more than the RDI. This would be the equivalent of drinking 5 ounces, or 3400 drops!, of Lugol’s 5%. He developed swelling of the face, neck, and mouth, had transient cardiac arrhythmias and made an uneventful recovery.
WARNING: DUE TO THE POTENTIAL ALLERGIC REACTION OF IODINE, TESTING A SMALL DROP OF IT ON YOUR SKIN, SUCH AS ON AN ARM OR ABDOMEN WILL LET YOU KNOW IF YOU ARE ALLERGIC. FEW PEOPLE ARE, BUT IF THE AREA REDDENS OR ITCHES, YOU ARE PROBABLY ALLERGIC AND SHOULD NOT INGEST IODINE.
“Iodine is by far the best antibiotic, antiviral and antiseptic of all time.” Dr. David Derry
Like Magnesium, Vitamins C and D and Selenium, Iodine is often not found in sufficient quantities in our diets. These, in addition to good diet and other supplements such as B Complex and boron, should be the mainstay of our supplement programs.
You can find more info on Iodine and other beneficial supplements on my website.
Jan Slama
Vibrant Energy
Change your energy, change your life!
Your Source for MMS, Diatomaceous Earth and Lugol’s 5% Iodine.
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DISCLOSURE: Any information herein is for educational purpose only. It may be news related, purely speculation or SOMEONE'S OPINION. Opinions offered are not as a substitute for professional medical prevention, diagnosis, or treatment. Please consult with your physician, pharmacist, or health care provider before taking any home remedies or supplements or following any treatment suggested by anyone in this email or on this site. Only your health care provider, personal physician, or pharmacist can provide you with advice on what is safe and effective for your unique needs or diagnose your particular medical history. Because many of us have decided we are better suited to determine our nutritional needs than some in the medical professions, we also have a responsibility to make sure that we not only do not have deficiencies, but also that we don’t go too far in the other direction and cause problems with over abundance. Too much of a good thing can be just as bad as too little. Please be aware of your health changes and seek professional advice whenever necessary. We are all physiologically unique. What is good for one person isn’t necessarily good for another.
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