Iodine and Your Health

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The Thyroid, Iodine & Disease Prevention

http://www.altcancer.com/lugols.htm

This organ's thyroid cells are the only ones in the body capable of absorbing iodine, an important mineral nutrient and potent germ killer - (though 80% of the less than 25 mg. of iodine in the body is found elswhere, primarily in muscle and bone, extracellularly - the thyroid has a concentration of iodine that is over 1,000 times greater than that found in muscle tissue.) In terms of immunology, the thyroid gland acts as a gatekeeper: every 17 minutes all the blood in the body passes through the thyroid, where this gland's secretion of iodine kills germs that have come into the body (through absorption of food in the digestive tract, skin injury, respiratory intake, etc.) Pathogenic micro-organisms, the primary causative agent for disease in the body, are made weaker during their passage through the thyroid gland. With each "17 minute passage" they are made still weaker until most are killed, provided the thyroid has its normal supply of iodine.

We know from clinical study that few people have anywhere near enough iodine in their body for the thyroid to function optimally. Three disturbing trends initiated in the 20th century made this collective deficiency inevitable: (1) the introduction of chlorine - another halogen, like iodine - used in drinking water, pools, and as a ubiquitous cleaning agent in industry, etc. - which displaces iodine (see far left sidebar), (2) the alteration of the Western diet to reduce natural food sources of iodine, and (3) farming practices designed to increase crop yield which have lead to reduced iodine content in many foods. Aggravating this diminishing source issue is the fact that the body does not conserve iodine the way it does iron. We must receive a regular dietary or supplemental intake in order to maintain optimal health.

Iodine supplementation is extremely important. Iodine is required for normal thyroid function is displaced or deactivated by other halogens - Bromine, Chlorine and Fluoride.

Naturally occurring iodine is found in kelp and dulse, and in seafood.

Halogens will attack free radicals, disease pathogens and viral DNA/RNA. Halogens are highly reactive stable elements that possess singlet electrons and odd order electrons in their make-up. Other than Hydrogen, the halogens are the only stable elements that have odd order electrons in their outer shell. There are seven halogens on the periodic table of the elements.

Thyroid gland controls your adrenals with its secretions. Iodine is critical in the manufacture of these enzymes.

The role of iodine in human nutrition is well-established as are its deficiency diseases and the conditions to which its deficiency can contribute (i.e. goiter, cretinism, hypothyroidism, etc.)

The amount of iodine necessary to prevent goiter is quite small. The U.S. Recommended Daily Allowance was set for that. It does not maintain health, it keeps you from showing external symptoms of illness.

Optimally, people would get all their iodine from dietary sources, but much agricultural farmland is iodine-deficient, resulting in low levels of iodine in foods. Many areas, such as the Great Lakes region in the U.S., are naturally deficient in iodine -- a fact that lead to the massive goiter in the 1930's, when 40% of the people living in Michigan suffered from goiter.

In 1924, iodine was first added to table salt as a preventative measure, and by 1940, the practice was in general consumer use. Using iodized salt has, no doubt, been effective: it contains about 76 mcg. of iodine per gram. The average person consumes at least 3 grams of iodized salt daily, exceeding the RDA for iodine by 150 mcg.

However, iodized salt has many other drawbacks: it contains aluminum and processing chemical residues, its overuse creates the well-documented conditions associated with sodium-potassium imbalance, etc. With treated salt's convenient little addition to the Western diet - its integration accelerated by the explosive expansion of fast food outlets and its abundant use there, one might think we have seen the last of iodine deficiency. Not so.

Enter "halogen displacement" and the effects of chlorine intake on the body's small reserve of iodine. Table salt, by definition, is mostly "sodium chloride" (what chemists call a "halide" - or a halogen tied to a mineral, making it a "salt" of a halogen). Chlorine (not chloride ion found in salt), has been used extensively since 1904 to control microbes in public drinking water, belongs to the same class of elements as iodine: the "halogens" - or elements that are one step removed from the "inert elements" (or gases) because they have just one electron missing from their outer shell to make it inert (non-reactive). This makes them quite readily reactive.

The mechanism behind "halogen displacement" was probably best described by J.C. Jarvis, M.D. (Folk Medicine, Henry Holt & Co., 1958, HB, p. 136), who wrote: "The clinical activity of any one of these four halogens is in inverse proportion to its atomic weight. This means that any one of the four can displace the element with a higher atomic weight, but cannot displace an element with a lower atomic weight. For example, flourine can displace chlorine, bromine and iodine because flourine has a lower atomic weight than the other three. Similarly, chlorine can displace bromine and iodine because they both have a higher atomic weight. Likewise, bromine can displace iodine from the body because iodine has a higher atomic weight. But a reverse order is not possible. A knowledge of this well-known chemical law brings us to a consideration of the addition of chlorine to our drinking water as a purifying agent. We secure a drinking water that is harmful to the body not because of its harmful germ content but because the chlorine content now causes the body to lose the much-needed iodine..."

To counter the effects of iodine loss, Dr. Jarvis recommended various methods including:

Eating foods rich in iodine: food from the ocean (kelp, dulse), radishes, asparagus, carrots, tomatoes, spinach, rhubarb, potatoes, peas, strawberries, mushrooms, lettuce, bananas, cabbage, egg yolk, and onions;
Painting a small area of the body with tincture of iodine; and
Taking preparations known to be rich in iodine, including cod liver oil, kelp tablets ...

But he was particularly keen on the power of Lugol's iodine, for treating various illnesses, including colds and flu, and for countering the effects of stress: "Supposing you do follow the suggestions outlined above and find that some weeks the pressures of your private and your business life are causing you to lose the ability to bounce back. Then you should add a drop of Lugol's solution of iodine to your glass of apple or grape juice at breakfast, or you may take it in the mixture of apple cider vinegar and water. The point is that the potassium in the solution (Lugol's is 5% potassium iodine) blocks off the body mechanism that organizes for aggressive action, releasing its hold on the body when opportunity for rest and relaxation arises. The iodine swings into action the body and the building up and storing of body reserves. When working under pressure, include the Lugol's solution dose each day until the period of pressure passes. If it should happen that your body becomes saturated with iodine, you will find that there is an increase of moisture in the nose. If this occurs, omit the iodine until the nose is normal."

Do you have low thyroid function (Hypothyroidism)?

This thyroid questionnaire lists symptoms and other factors most commonly found in people suffering from low thyroid, or hypothyroidism. Each yes counts as a point:

Do you have fatigue?
Do you have elevated cholesterol?
Do you have difficulty losing weight?
Do you have cold hands and feet?
Are you sensitive to the cold?
Do you have difficulty thinking?
Do you find it hard to concentrate?
Do you experience brain fog?
Do you have poor short term memory?
Do you have depressed moods?
Are you experiencing hair loss?
Do you have less than one bowel movement a day?
Do you have dry skin?
Does your skin itch in the winter?
Do you have fluid retention?
Do you have recurrent headaches?
Do you sleep restlessly?
Are you tired when you awaken?
Do you have afternoon fatigue?
Do you experience tingling or numbness in your hands or feet?
Do you have decreased sweating?
Have you had problems with infertility or miscarriages?
Do you have recurrent infections?
Do your muscles ache?
Do you have joint pain?
Do you have thinning of your eyebrows or eyelashes?
Is your tongue enlarged with teeth indentations?
Is your skin pasty, puffy or pale?
Do you have decreased body hair?
Is your voice hoarse?
Do you have a slow pulse?
Do you have low blood pressure?
Does your body temperature run below the normal 98.6°?
Do you have sleep apnea?

Total Score

< 9 — It is not likely that you have low thyroid function.
9-28 — Low thyroid function is a possibility.
> 28 — Low thyroid function is very likely.

Lugol's Solution

Dosage: One drop if body weight is 150 lbs. (68 kg.) or less; two drops for body weight of more than 150 lbs.

Directions: Take the suggested "Dosage" above two times per week - temporally equidistant (i.e. such as Wednesday and Saturday). In times of bacterial or viral infection, take Dosage three times per week (i.e Monday, Wednesday, Friday). Take Lugol's on an empty stomach about 20 minutes before eating in an 8 oz. (236 ml.) glass of distilled or purified water with one teaspoonful of apple cider vinegar added for slight acidification.

A History of Lugol's

Lugol's Iodine (also called "Lugol's solution") was first developed by the French physician, Jean Lugol, in 1829. It is a transparent brown liquid consisting of 10 parts potassium iodide (KI) to 5 parts iodine to 85 parts of (distilled) water. It is an effective bactericide and fungicide and, in fact, was, for the better part of a century, a common antiseptic - (though it has laboratory uses separate and apart from any medical application). Lugol's and similar iodine solutions probably fell out of favor in the last half of the 20th century due to combination of economics and esthetics: first, it is so cheap to make that it cannot compare to "cleaner," value-added antiseptics with more marketing muscle; and secondly, it will stain clothes and will even temporarily stain skin when used topically to treat a wound. The internal applications of various iodine solutions have been published and discussed for well over a century.

The Thyroid, Iodine & Disease Prevention

The role of the thyroid gland has been understood for some time now. Although conventional medicine places emphasis on its contribution to regulating the body's metabolism, an equally important role is its contribution to the immunological health of the body. This organ's thyroid cells are the only ones in the body capable of absorbing iodine, an important mineral nutrient and potent germ killer - (though 80% of the less than 25 mg. of iodine in the body is found elswhere, primarily in muscle and bone, extracellularly - the thyroid has a concentration of iodine that is over 1,000 times greater than that found in muscle tissue.) In terms of immunology, the thyroid gland acts as a gatekeeper: every 17 minutes all the blood in the body passes through the thyroid, where this gland's secretion of iodine kills germs that have come into the body (through absorption of food in the digestive tract, skin injury, respiratory intake, etc.) Pathogenic micro-organisms, the primary causative agent for disease in the body, are made weaker during their passage through the thyroid gland. With each "17 minute passage" they are made still weaker until most are killed, provided the thyroid has its normal supply of iodine.

Cancer & Chlorine: It Does MoreThan Just Displace Iodine

"We are quite convinced, based on our study, that there is an association between cancer and chlorinated water."
Medical College of Wisconsin Research Team

"Cancer risk among people drinking chlorinated water is 93% higher than among those whose water does not contain chlorine."
U.S. Council Of Environmental Quality

"Putting chlorine in the water supplies is like starting a time bomb. Cancer, heart trouble, premature senility; both mental and physical, are conditions attributable to chlorine treated water supplies. It is making us grow old before our time by producing symptoms of aging, such as hardening of the arteries."
Dr. Herbert Schwarts, Biological Chemist

"Nothing can negate the incontrovertible fact, the basic cause of atherosclerosis and resulting entities such as heart attacks and stroke, is chlorine."
Joseph Price, M.D., Coronaries, Cholesterol Chlorine

"I deal extensively on several newsgroups that focus on animal cancers - particularly feline leukemia, mast cell tumors, etc. I am amazed by the upsurge in these kind of cases and the only common element I can find in all of it is water. That's right. I have 28 cats of my own and they all drink from a pond - none of them have ever developed any kind of cancer, nor have those of my friends who are committed to avoiding chlorinated water. The correlation is too widespread to ignore out of hand."
Jim Carr

There is a lot of good material supporting in the public domain supporting abstinence from chlorinated water - and even using pools and spas that use halogens (i.e. chlorine and bromine) to clean the water. (This is, in fact, the reason we created H3O for Spas & Pools.)
One of the best sources is WaterWarning.com, and there are plenty more on our H3O Spa page itself.
If you have any questions about the importance of avoiding chlorine, you owe it to yourself to do a little research ...

Treating Candida Mycoplasia & The Aftermath of Antibiotic Usage

Many alternative physicians will use Lugol's for these conditions -- just 6 drops, 4 times daily (24 drops per day). Precautions: Lugol's, like bio-oxidative preparations, is oxidative. You should avoid taking anti-oxidant supplements (Vitamin A, C, E, selenium, glutithione, etc.) for the duration of your "higher-than-normal" usage of Lugol's. You should also follow high usage of iodine products with Microflora Restoration - or similar products to replenish vital intestinal flora.