Have you come to accept your state of health as normal for you? Do you listen to the radio and hear commercials for antacids and run out to the store to buy the latest antacid pill? If you’re tired all the time, do you think you’re just working too hard? If you have dry skin, do you simply attribute it to winter dry air? Have you been struggling to lose weight while doing all the “right” things? Do you find your mind in a fog more often than you used to? Are you depressed? Have you been losing hair? Do you feel cold when others are comfortable or warm? If you’re a woman, have you been diagnosed with fibrocystic breast disease, breast cancer, or polycystic ovarian syndrome? Did you answer “yes” to three or more of these questions? If so, you might be surprised to learn that you are IODINE DEFICIENT!
Signs of iodine deficiency
Signs of iodine deficiency are many: lack of energy, dry skin, feeling cold, lack of appetite, inability to lose weight, breast fibroids, gastric reflux (heartburn, indigestion, acid stomach), polycystic ovarian syndrome, depression, losing hair, and brain fog to name a few. Since the introduction of fluoridated water in the US in 1945, the decline in the use of iodized table salt, and the increase in the use of pesticides, herbicides and environmental pollutants, iodine deficiency and concurrent hypothyroidism (underactive thyroid gland) have risen to epidemic proportions. Yet most Americans think the common symptoms of iodine deficiency are just a part of getting older. Or menopause. Or working too hard. Or dry air, being female, or stress. While these are all factors that can lead to these symptoms, most can be alleviated or certainly lessened by adequate intake of iodine!
Japanese diet vs. American diet
People in the U.S. consume an average 240 micrograms of iodine a day. In contrast, people in Japan consume more than 12 milligrams of iodine a day, a 50-fold greater amount. They eat seaweed, which include brown algae (kelp), red algae, and green algae (chlorella). Compared to terrestrial plants, which contain only trace amounts of iodine, these marine plants have high concentrations of this nutrient .
Health comparisons between the two countries are disturbing. The incidence of breast cancer in the U.S. is the highest in the world, and in Japan, until recently, the lowest. Japanese women who emigrate from Japan or adopt a Western style diet have a higher rate of breast cancer compared with those that consume seaweed. Life expectancy in the U.S. is 78 years, 48th in 226 countries surveyed. It is 81 years in Japan, the highest of all industrialized countries. The infant mortality rate in Japan is the lowest in the world, 3.5 deaths under age one per 1,000 live births, half the infant mortality rate in the United States.
Iodine and breast cancer
Today 1 in 7 American women (almost 15 percent) will develop breast cancer during their lifetime. Thirty years ago, when iodine consumption was twice as high as it is now (480 µg a day), 1 in 20 women developed breast cancer. Iodine was used as a dough conditioner in making bread, and each slice of bread contained 0.14 mg of iodine. In 1980, bread makers started using bromide as a conditioner instead, which competes with iodine for absorption into the thyroid gland and other tissues in the body. The use of iodized table salt has decreased, with 45% of households using table salt without iodine. Furthermore, the much higher concentrations of chloride in table salt (NaCl) inhibits absorption of its sister halogen iodine (the intestines absorb only 10 percent of the iodine present in iodized table salt). As a result, 15 percent of the U.S. adult female population suffers from moderate to severe iodine deficiency, which health authorities define as a urinary iodine concentration less than 50 µg /L. Women with goiters (a visible, noncancerous enlargement of the thyroid gland) owing to iodine deficiency have been found to have a three times greater incidence of breast cancer. A high intake of iodine is associated with a low incidence breast cancer, and a low intake with a high incidence of breast cancer.
Iodine and fibrocystic breast disease
Similar findings apply to fibrocystic breast disease. The incidence of fibrocystic breast disease in American women was 3 percent in the 1920s. Today, 90 percent of women have this disorder. Six million American women with fibrocystic disease have moderate to severe breast pain and tenderness that lasts more than 6 days during the menstrual cycle.
Iodine and acid reflux
The lack of iodine in the diet is also associated with GERD, or Gastric Esophageal Reflux Disease. This common ailment causes heartburn, sour stomach, acid indigestion, and a reflux of the stomach’s contents into the esophagus (throat). Most doctors recommend the use of antacids such as Prilosec, Tagamet, Pepcid AC, Zantac, Tums, or others to control the symptoms and suppress acid production. What they don’t realize is that the problem is NOT an overproduction of stomach acid, but an UNDERPRODUCTION of stomach acid, hydrochloric acid (HCl) in particular. This underproduction can be directly related to iodine deficiency, as iodine is essential for the normal production of HCl! Suppressing the production of what little HCl is being produced only exacerbates the problem. Simply supplementing with iodine can solve the problem of GERD and its associated symptoms.
Other functions of iodine
Iodine has other functions that are critical for health. It removes toxic chemicals — fluoride, bromide, lead, aluminum, mercury — and biological toxins, suppresses auto-immunity, and protects against abnormal growth of bacteria in the stomach.
Iodine supplementation
A simple way to determine if you are deficient is to paint a quarter-sized spot on the inside of your forearm with tincture of iodine, which you can buy at the drugstore. Take note of how long it takes for this spot to disappear. If the spot disappears in less than 24 hours, your body is not storing adequate iodine.
Since iodized table salt is only 10% absorbed by the intestines, increasing or adding iodized table salt to your diet will have only a minimal effect on iodine deficiency. Aside from eating substantial quantities of seaweed (recommended), you can supplement with iodine in two effective ways: using Lugol’s iodine solution or taking Iodoral tablets. Both Lugol's solution and Ioderal are one-third molecular iodine (5%) and two-thirds potassium iodide (10%). Studies done to date indicate that the best iodine supplement is one that includes molecular iodine (I2), which breast tissue prefers. Lugol’s can be purchased on Amazon.com: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001PN3BUW/ref=ord_cart_shr?ie=UTF8&m=A20PBGQP5E6E2S as can Optimox Iodoral:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001IJ1QT6
In deficiency, supplement with Lugol’s 2 – 3 drops 3 times a day in water or other beverage. Lugol’s has an unpleasant taste and will turn the beverage brown. To maintain iodine levels, supplement with 2 drops of Lugol’s once a day. For Iodoral, follow the directions on the bottle. Always consult with your health care practitioner when adding a supplement to your regimen.
Adding iodine to your diet, either in the forms mentioned above or by eating sufficient quantities of iodine-containing foods like seaweed, can make a huge difference in your health in just a short period of time. Give it a try and make note of how you feel in a few weeks! Let me know if you have questions or concerns.
http://iodine4health.com/overviews/uses/panam_uses.htm
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