How to determine if iodine supplementation might be is right for you by assessing key criteria used by holistic practitioners.
Far from the newcomer on the block, iodine is a traditional remedy that doctors in centuries past relied upon as an antiseptic and natural antibiotic.
As far back as 2700 B.C., records show that Emperor Shen Nung used seaweed for the treatment of goiters. Pliny, Vitruvius, and Juvenal describe the prevalence of goiter in the Alps and the use of burnt seaweed for treatment in 40 B.C.
Dr. Weston A. Price reported in 1939 that certain primitive cultures used iodine to successfully treat goiters.
Why Did Iodine Fall Out of Favor?
It was during World War II that patented pharmaceuticals like penicillin and sulfa drugs began to replace iodine. In 1969, Drs. Drs. Jan Wolff and Israel Lyon Chaikoff erroneously theorized that large amounts of iodine were harmful.
Unfortunately, a large portion of the medical community bought their theory, and recommended dosages of iodine in the United States dropped to a low of 150 mcg daily. This stands in sharp contrast to the average Japanese intake of 12 mg or more daily.
Indisputable Benefits
Iodine is present in every organ and tissue in the body. It is key to intelligence, proper fetal development, the health of salivary glands, endometrium, prostate, ovaries, and skin.
Research has shown that women with good iodine status bear smarter children. Researchers at Bristol and Surrey universities in England studied 1,040 pregnant women and discovered that children born to mothers with even mild iodine deficiencies had lower IQs and reading levels. (1)
Scientists conducting a meta-analysis of studies on iodine in China concluded: “The level of iodine nutrition plays a crucial role in the intellectual development of children.” (2)
Role in Detoxification
Iodine assists in many bodily functions including detoxification of radiation and toxic metals, especially mercury; thins excess phlegm and mucous; improves water metabolism and relieves water retention; cleanses the lymphatic system and blood; and supports thyroid function.
Iodine is necessary in order for the thyroid gland to produce adequate amounts of thyroid hormones, in particular T4. Additionally, iodine helps alleviate liver stagnation. This plays a significant role in the liver’s ability to convert T4 to the more biologically active thyroid hormone, T3.
Breast Health
Part of iodine’s vital role in both thyroid and liver health contributes to protecting the breasts from abnormalities. Practitioners use iodine therapeutically to assist the body in resolving breast cysts, as well as uterine fibroids and ovarian cysts.
Deficiency is a common finding in cases of fibrocystic breast disease, breast cancer, and other hormone-driven cancers such as prostate, ovarian and uterine cancers. Hence, iodine supplementation may prove beneficial for this condition.
Essential to breast development and protective against cysts, iodine desensitizes estrogen in the receptors in the breasts. Iodine reduces estrogen production in overactive ovaries, making it therapeutic for those suffering from estrogen dominance, premenstrual syndrome, and polycystic ovarian syndrome.
In my clinical experience, iodine is one of the best support minerals for acne and eczema. Iodine is also an important antioxidant as well as an inducer of apoptosis in cancerous tumors. Iodine has anti-sclerotic properties making it beneficial for use in persons with atherosclerosis. Historically, iodine supplementation facilitated the treatment of syphilis, malaria, scarlet fever, obesity, depression, pneumonia, uterine fibroids, and prostatic hypertrophy.
Food Sources
The best food sources of iodine are wild ocean fish and seafood. Avoid “sustainable” salmon as this is labeling semantics for GMO farm-raised.
Seaweed (marine algae) products such as kelp, nori, dulse, hijiki, arame, and wakame are also good sources. Try adding some to homemade fish broth for an especially therapeutic combination.
In addition, pastured butter especially from cows grazing on spring grass contains significant amounts.
Caution should be used in choosing seaweed products since the Fukushima nuclear power plant disaster. Products from Japanese waters should be tested for purity.
Skin Patch Test
Several laboratories now are able to determine whole-body iodine sufficiency through the use of a 24-hour collection test. This is a very simple and cost-effective test and is available through my office.
We also offer iodine patch testing in our clinic. It requires a 2” square patch of iodine to be painted on the arm or thigh. The length of time it takes for the patch to fade is assessed. The faster the body absorbs the iodine, the greater the need for iodine.
2% iodine tincture is the type used for the skin patch test and is readily available at any pharmacy costing just a few dollars.
While not perfect, this easy, inexpensive, and noninvasive test can quickly assess a patient’s relative status and whether there might be a need for further testing.
Iodine Supplementation: How Much is Enough?
Experts such as Guy Abraham, M.D., David Brownstein, M.D., and many others recommend 100-400 times the USRDA of iodine.
Vetted supplemental sources that I recommend include:
According to Dr. Guy Abraham, a researcher and an authority on the safe use of iodine, the daily dose of iodine should be 12.5 mg. to 37.5 mg. daily. The Japanese live longer and have lower rates of breast and thyroid cancer than any other population. And as we all know, they generally have very high levels of intelligence. Could it be the iodine?
The information in this post is not intended for the diagnosis or treatment of any disease or disorder. Always consult with your health care practitioner. Iodine dosing is best done under the guidance of a knowledgeable health care practitioner.
More Information
Do you know if “grassfed icecream” would have iodine in it like grassfed butter?
Depends on amount in the cows diet. Also traditional methods of teat disinfection uses iodine, so milk/cream/butter from those cows would contain more. However, as Dr. Brownstein and his colleagues show, it’s impossible to rely on mcg amounts in food to stock our bodies.
This is THE best talk I’ve ever seen on Iodine and its importance in our daily lives. There’s a TON of science/chemistry/medical stuff in this talk, but Dr. Tenpenny makes it easy to understand and you can always pause it and take a moment to really let all of it “sink in” or watch it several times.
She answers all the questions on Selenium, Magnesium, Zinc, how to test, how to interpret the various tests correctly and using their own study, debunks conventional medicine’s complete misinterpretation of the Wolff-Chaikoff study. Incredible!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hMjKmi12UX0
Enjoy!!!
Also, I highly recommend Dr. Cousens’ Illumodine. I get mine here:
There is evidence that supplimenting iodine can be hazardous to individuals with auto imune diesease:
Iodine only increases autoimmunity if it is taken without selenium. If they are taken together iodine is perfectly fine, and even beneficial. Selenium decreases autoimmunity.
For anyone interested in experimenting further with higher iodine dosing we have a growing and very active facebook group called “Iodine Workshop”. https://www.facebook.com/groups/309122002556036/
We use our personal experiences, Dr. Brownstien’s book “Iodine: Why you Need It, Why You Can’t Live Without It”, “The Iodine Crisis” by Lynne Farrow and Dr. Dach’s work on his blog (particularly regarding hashimoto’s and higher iodine dosing.) http://www.drdach.com/Selenium_Hashimotos.html
My husband swears by betadine on any skin scratches, cuts, irritations. He’s a type one diabetic and has to avoid infection wherever possible. Since he’s been using this regularly, he hasn’t got a single, even minor infection. And this is really important. A bottle of it costs quite a bit more than you’d expect but it last a long time.
Please excuse my ignorance, but how to you take the iodine? Do you just spread it on your skin? How much do you use? I really don’t know much about iodine at all besides everyone on TV using it just before surgery :0)
My naturopath/chinese medicine practitioner suggested I use Lugol’s on my skin. My husband quickly raised his basal body temperature with it and it stays on his skin. He’s gone from daily use down to twice a week to maintain his levels. I’m still using it daily and it disappears much more slowly than it used to, but still not as little as I’d like! We are also using it on our toddler, as per her recommendation, and his skin used to drink it in very quickly too. My basal body temperature is pretty much spot on now, despite having to use Lugol’s daily.
I’m not sure about the other supplements you should take with it, but we are supplementing with zinc, selenium and maganesium as our local soils are depleted. Our diet is based on WAPF.
When I went to get a breast health screen recently one of the comments made by the incredibly young looking 60 year old who was screening me was to take iodine and get my hormones balanced naturally. Keeping on with the iodine and hope I look half as good as her at that age!
You need vitamin C and selenium, along with perhaps a few more nutrients in order to absorb iodine, and to not get adverse health affects. I take my lugols with sprouted Brazil nuts and some parsley with lemon, along with my WAPF lifestyle. BTW I am nursing, so I require the extra iodine.
So, is it ok to take Nascent Iodine while nursing? My husband takes it and has lost a ton of weight. I just fear the toxins will be released in my breast milk and then my son. We do give him (19 months old) 1 drop a day. Any thoughts?
I’ve always wondered about the iodine test. A while back my doctor had suggested I try it, so that night I did an online search and came up with this:
http://thyroid.about.com/library/derry/bl2a.htm
In part, it says:
“The “test” of putting iodine on the skin to watch how fast it disappears is not an indicator of anything. The iodine disappearance rate is unrelated to thyroid disease or even iodine content of the body.(1-2) Meticulous research by Nyiri and Jannitti in 1932 showed clearly when iodine is applied to the skin in almost any form, 50% evaporates into the air within 2 hours and between 75 and 80 percent evaporates into the air within 24 hours. (1) A total of 88 percent evaporates within 3 days and it is at this point that the evaporation stops. The remaining 12 percent that is absorbed into the skin has several fates. Only 1-4% of the total iodine applied to the skin is absorbed into the blood stream within the first few hours. The rest of the iodine within the skin (8-11%) is slowly released from the skin into the blood stream.”
Can you respond to this? I’m not challenging you or trying to be negative. I’d really like to know if the test is valid or not. I’d rather paint a patch on my arm than collect my urine for 24 hours! 🙂