Overview:

Iodine is an essential element for life. At atomic number Z = 53, it is the heaviest element commonly needed by humans. It is required for the synthesis of the growth-regulating thyroid hormones thyroxine and triiodothyronine (T4 and T3 respectively, named after their number of iodine atoms). A deficiency of iodine leads to decreased production of T3 and T4 and a concomitant enlargement of the thyroid tissue in an attempt to obtain more iodine, causing the disease known as simple goiter.

The thyroid gland cannot make enough thyroid hormones without a sufficient iodine supply. Therefore, the thyroid gland cannot optimally function in an iodine-deficient state. One of the consequences of an iodine-deficient state is goiter (swelling of the thyroid gland). In addition to goiter formation, iodine deficiency may also lead to other thyroid conditions including hypothyroidism, autoimmune thyroid diseases such as Graves’ and Hashimoto’s disease, as well as thyroid cancer. Studies have shown that iodine-deficient individuals have an increased incidence of anti-thyroid antibodies.

Why is adequate thyroid hormone so important? Every single cell, muscle, and organ in the body depends on adequate thyroid hormone levels for optimal functioning. The thyroid hormone acts as the body’s major metabolic regulator. In a low thyroid state, known as hypothyroidism, the thyroid gland releases inadequate amounts of thyroid hormone to meet the body’s metabolic demands, reducing the metabolic rate. In a hyperthyroid state, the thyroid gland releases excess amounts of thyroid hormone, which results in an elevated metabolic rate.

Iodine is also responsible for maintaining the normal architecture of the body’s glands, including the thyroid, ovaries, uterus, breast, and prostate. When the glandular tissue cells have enough iodine, the tissue maintains a normal structure. When iodine is deficient, the architecture of the glandular tissue becomes disrupted, and the tissue becomes cystic. Cysts are fluid-filled sacs that have a distinct border from the surrounding normal tissue.

Key Benefits of Iodine:

• Iodine is responsible for maintaining the normal architecture of the glands of the body, including the thyroid, ovaries, uterus, breast, and prostate.
• Iodine prevents hypothyroidism, autoimmune thyroid diseases such as Graves’ and Hashimoto’s disease, as well as thyroid cancer.
• Every single cell, muscle, and organ in the body depends on adequate thyroid hormone levels for optimal functioning.
• Thyroid hormone acts as the body’s major metabolic regulator.
• It increases IQs in children born to mothers with sufficient iodine levels.
• It detoxes the body of various toxins, including bromide, chloride, and fluoride.
• Cancers can be prevented through its antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, prodifferentiating, and proapoptotic effects.

Key Risks of Iodine:

• Without sufficient levels of selenium, the body does not properly utilize iodine/iodide.
• Because different tissues need iodine in its iodide form, without proper supplementation with a ratio similar to lugos formulation, the body does not effectively utilize higher doses of iodine.
• Selenium is generally considered safe at standard doses of 200-400 mcg per day.  However,  very high dosages can cause selenium toxicity.  (This is why you should take a blood test of your levels before supplementing with iodine/iodide.)

What you need to know about Iodine/Iodide – I:

Iodine is the fourth halogen, being a member of group 17 in the periodic table, below fluorine, chlorine, and bromine; it is the heaviest stable member of its group.  Iodine is the least abundant of the stable halogens, comprising only 0.46 parts per million of Earth’s crustal rocks (compare: fluorine 544 ppm, chlorine 126 ppm, bromine 2.5 ppm).

Iodine is one of the best-known antiseptic agents with the least toxicity to human cells.  Its use in most surgeries.  It is on the World Health Organization’s List of Essential Medicines.

~15 to 20 mg of iodine is concentrated in thyroid tissue and hormones, but 70% of all iodine in the body is found in other tissues, including mammary glands, eyes, prostate, gastric mucosa, fetal thymus, cerebro-spinal fluid and choroid plexus, arterial walls, the cervix, and salivary glands. In the cells of those tissues, iodide enters directly by sodium-iodide symporter (NIS).

Iodine, unlike vitamins and minerals, is not present in adequate amounts in most foods. Specific plants absorb iodine when it is present in the soil. Iodine is found in many ocean foods, such as fish (cod, sea bass, haddock, and perch) and sea vegetables (seaweed). Iodine can also be found in many other food products either by adding iodine to animal feed or by adding iodine to the food source.

Iodine deficiency in the general population is of pandemic proportions in our modern world due to iodine’s displacement in our bodies by environmental toxins such as bromide, pesticides, and food additives. Modern farming techniques have also led to deficiencies of iodine and other minerals in the soil.

Certain diets and lifestyles can also predispose a person to develop iodine deficiency. Those who eat a lot of bakery products (breads, pasta, etc), which contain high amounts of bromide, are at risk. So are vegetarians and those who don’t like sea food, sea vegetables or salt.

The soil around the oceans generally contains adequate amounts of iodine. The more inland and mountainous areas generally have lesser amounts of iodine.  Iodine levels have fallen by approximately 50% over the last 40 years according to the NHANES data.

Why is adequate thyroid hormone so important?

Every single cell, muscle, and organ in the body depends on adequate thyroid hormone levels for optimal functioning. Thyroid hormone acts as the body’s major metabolic regulator. In a low thyroid state, known as hypothyroidism, the thyroid gland is releasing inadequate amounts of thyroid hormone to meet the body’s metabolic demands, and the metabolic rate is therefore reduced. In a hyperthyroid state, the thyroid gland is releasing excess amounts of thyroid hormone that results in an elevated metabolic rate.

Iodine is responsible for maintaining the normal architecture of the glands of the body including the thyroid, ovaries, uterus, breast, and prostate. When the cells of the glandular tissue have enough iodine, the tissue maintains a normal structure. When iodine is deficient, the architecture of the glandular tissue becomes disrupted and the tissue becomes cystic. Cysts are fluid-filled sacs that have a distinct border from the surrounding normal tissue.

There is a fear and misunderstanding around supplementing with iodine due to the fact that higher does iodine leads to higher TSH (Thyroid-stimulating hormone) is a test to monitor thyroid function. It usually rises when there is hypothyroidism.

However, as Dr. Brownstein explains:

“TSH has another function besides stimulating thyroid hormone production. It also helps stimulate the body’s production of the iodine transport molecules – the sodium-iodide symporter (NIS). Without adequate amounts of NIS, iodine would not be able to enter the cells and be utilized. […] [An] iodine-deficient patient’s body does not require a large amount of NIS since there is little iodine that needs to be transported into the cells. However, when this individual begins to supplement with iodine, the extra iodine now needs to be transported into the cells. One way the body will accomplish this is to increase the production of TSH to stimulate more NIS. […]

How long does TSH stay elevated? l have found that TSH may remain elevated for up to 6 months before lowering to normal. How high do TSH levels rise? The normal TSH level ranges from 0.5-4.5mlU/L. l have witnessed TSH levels elevated to 5-30mlU/L for a period of time sometimes up to six months-before falling back to the normal range. […] The TSH will decline back to the reference range after the thyroid gland is saturated with iodine.”

Iodine does not cause hypothyroidism. On the contrary, the main thyroid hormones, T4 and T3, require enough iodine in order to be produced. When an individual is iodine-deficient, hypothyroidism results because there is not enough raw material to produce T4 and T3.

Hypothyroidism

Hypothyroidism (low thyroid hormone levels) and hypometabolism (low effect from thyroid hormone) are a lot more common than most people think.

Doctors often look at limited data and ranges that rather than being based on symptoms are set statistically with the lowest 2.5% of readings being defined as hypothyroidism and the top 2.5% being defined as hyperthyroidism.  Estimates are that 40% of the population exhibits moderate to pronounced hypothyroid symptoms.

As mentioned above, doctors rarely test the actual thyroid hormones (T3 & T4), instead testing the thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH), which has a dubious connection to actual hormone levels and an even more tenuous connection to thyroid hormone effect on body tissues.  All of this bad science makes thyroid diagnoses one of the most botched clinical assessments in modern medicine.

But even if you do get to also test your T4, T3, and rT3, you are only testing the blood levels.  The thyroid hormones acts at the cellular and subcellular levels, which these tests are unable to measure.

The underlying dysfunction of hypothyroidism and hypometabolism is a lowered basal metabolic rate. In other words, this means that people with this condition have a less-than-ideal cellular energy production.

All of the tissues of the body have the ability to convert the low potency thyroid hormone (T4) into the high potency thyroid hormone (T3). T3 is four times more potent than T4. Since the thyroid hormone excretion by the thyroid gland is 85% T4 and only 15% is T3, this tissue-level control of T4-to-T3 conversion is potentially a huge determinant of basal metabolic rate. If doctors do not test both T4 and T3, they do not have a clue about thyroid hormone conversion.

The enzyme that converts T4 to T3 is selenium dependent.   T4 can be converted to reverse T3 which has no thyroid hormone activity at all, resulting in a reduction in basal metabolic rate.   Special receptors on the surface of cells, as well as inside are essential to proper thyroid hormone function.  One more thing to keep in mind is that there are also thyroid antibodies that can interfere as well.

Many traditional doctors are trained to ignore blatant hypothyroid symptoms when blood thyroid tests fall into the “normal” range—which is set by statistical criteria, not medical ones.

The scientifically valid test for basal metabolism is not blood thyroid levels, but whole-body calorimetry. But whole-body calorimeters are rare, expensive, troublesome to operate (they need constant calibration), and they make patients feel claustrophobic in a coffin-like enclosure. Fortunately, simple body temperature measurements provide a reasonable indication of basal metabolic rate. Thermometers are inexpensive and easy to operate. The best time to measure body temperature is in the early morning (4-6 AM), just after waking and before getting out of bed.

Normal body temperature in the early morning is usually a half-degree to almost a full degree lower than the “normal” daytime temperature. But if it is more than a degree low, then it may be appropriate to investigate thyroid and metabolic issues, especially in those people who have specific health complaints that may be related to hypometabolism.

It’s also worth pointing out that hypothyroid symptoms can also be caused by adrenal exhaustion. Thyroid hormone works intimately with adrenal hormone (cortisol), and a cortisol deficiency produces a nearly identical set of symptoms as hypothyroidism and hypometabolism.  It is one of the many reasons we recommend adrenal cocktails as part of the protocol.

Halogens and Iodine:

Iodine is part of a class of elements known as the halogens. The halogens are a family of elements that form similar salt-like compounds in combination with sodium and most metals. The halogens are bromine, chlorine, fluorine, iodine, and astatine.

Problems arise with bromine, fluoride, chloride, perchlorate as these toxins have become common place in our environments, water, and food.   They have toxic side effects, and serve to interfere with iodine functions in the body.  We will dive more into this in a later chapter.  Suffice to say, that lowered amounts of iodine, and increased toxins have created a second silent killer, iodine deficiency.

Bromine and fluoride are toxic substances with no therapeutic use in our bodies.  Bromine interferes with iodine utilization in the thyroid, and anywhere else iodine concentrates in the body. Due to their interference with iodine-binding in the body, bromine and fluoride are known as “goitrogens” – they promote the formation of goiter.

“Though apparently vague and non-specific, most of the symptoms of fluoride toxicity point towards some kind of profound metabolic dysfunction, and are strikingly similar to the symptoms of Hypothyroidism.” Dental Fluorosis Medical Module, Case Study for the 4th Year Course in Ecosystem Health at UWO – University of Western Ontario, 2002.

These include:  Abnormal Sweating, Acne, ADHD/Learning Disorders, Allergies, Alopecia (Hair-loss), Alzheimer’s Disease, Anaphylactic Shock, Anemia, Apnea (Cessation of breath), Aorta Calcification, Asthenia (Weakness), Asthma, Atherosclerosis, Arthralgia, Arthritis, Ataxia, Autism, Back Pain, Birth Defects, Blind Spots, Body temperature disturbances, Breast Cancer, Cachexia (wasting away), Carpal Tunnel Syndrome, Cataracts, Change in blood pressure, Chest pain, Cholelithiasis (Gallstones), Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, Collagen breakdown, Cold Shivers, Coma, Concentration Inability, Constipation, Convulsions, Death, Decrease in Testosterone, Dementia, Demyelinating Diseases, Dental Abnormalities, Dental Arch smaller, Dental Crowding, Dental enamel more porous, Dental Fluorosis (Mottling of teeth), Delayed Eruption of Teeth, Depression, Diabetes Insipidus, Diabetes Mellitus, Diarrhea, Dizziness, Down Syndrome, Dry Mouth, Dyspepsia, Dystrophy, Early/Delayed Onset of Puberty, Eczema, Edema, Epilepsy, Eosinophilia, Excessive Sleepiness, Eye, ear and nose disorders, Fatigue, Fearfulness, Fever, Fibromyalgia, Fibrosarcoma, Fibrosis, Fingernails: Lines/Grooves/Brittle, Forgetfulness, Gastro-disturbances, Gastric Ulcers, Giant Cell Formation, Gingivitis, Glaucoma, Goiter, Growth Disturbances, Headache, Hearing Loss, Heart Disorders, Heart Failure, Heart Palpitations, Hepatitis, Hemorrhage, Hives, Hoarseness, Hyperparathyroidism, Hypertension, Hypoplasia, Immunosuppression, Impotence, Incoherence, Infertility, Inflammatory Bowel Disease, Inner Ear Disorders, Irritability, Joint Pains, Kidney Failure, Lack of Energy, Lack of Co-ordination, Loss of Appetite, Loss of Consciousness, Loss of IQ, Loss of Spermatogenesis, Low Birth Weight, Lung Cancer, Lupus, Magnesium Deficiency, Memory Loss, Mental Confusion, Migraine, Moniliasis, Mouth Sores, Myalgia (Muscle Pain), Myotrophy (Muscle wasting), Multiple Sclerosis, Muscle Cramps, Muscle Stiffness, Muscle Weakness, Nausea, Osteoarthritis, Osteoporosis, Osteosarcoma, Optic Neuritis, Oral Squamous Cell Carcinoma, Otosclerosis, Parkinson’s Disease, Pins & Needles, Polydipsia, Polyneuropathy, Polyurea, Premature Delivery, Pruritis (Itchy Skin), Pulmonary Edema, Recurring Colds, Respiratory Complications, Restlessness, Retinitis, Rhinitis, Schizophrenia, Skin Pigmentation, Sensitive to light, Seizures, Shortness of Breath, SIDS, Sinus Infections, Skeletal Changes, Sleep Disorders, Slipped Epiphysis, Sluggishness, Skin Irritations, Spondylitis, ankylosing, Stillbirths, Swallowing Difficulties (Dysphagia), Swelling in Face (Angioedema), Telangiectasia, Testicular Growth/Alteration, Thirst, Thrombosis, Thyroid Cancer, Tinnitus, Tingling Sensations, Visual disturbances, Ulcerative Colitis, Urticaria (Hives), Uterine Bleeding, Uterine Cancer, Vaginal Bleeding, Vas Deferens Alterations, Vertigo, Vitiligo (white spots/skin), Weak Pulse, Weight Disturbances, Zinc Deficiency.

Iodine & Estrogen

Estrogens are a class of steroid hormones produced and secreted in both men and women. In men, most of the estrogen is produced in the adrenal glands, fat tissue, and liver. The amount of estrogen in men is ten times lower than it is in women. In women, estrogens control female sexual development, including promoting the growth and function of the female sexual organs such as the ovaries, uterus, and breasts. The ovaries produce most of the estrogen in women, with smaller amounts produced in the adrenal glands and the fat tissue.

There are three major types of estrogen produced in the female body: estrone (El), estradiol (E2), and estriol (E3). Estriol is a much weaker estrogen than either estrone or estradiol. Estriol is less stimulating to breast tissue than either estradiol or estrone and may have a protective effect against breast cancer. When there are imbalances in estrogen production, such as lowered amounts of estriol and larger amounts of estrone and estradiol, problems such as fibrocystic breasts, cancer, and weight gain may develop. Iodine can help maintain the correct balance of the three estrogens.

For women, a balance of estrogens is vitally essential for numerous bodily functions, including ensuring optimal function of the brain, breast development, and lubrication of the skin. In addition, estrogen balance helps to ensure strong bones and may help to prevent cardiovascular disease. Imbalances in estrogen production are associated with weight gain, mood swings, and disorders such as diabetes as well as cancer of the breast, ovary, and uterus. Estrogen balance is impossible to maintain when there is iodine deficiency present.

So not only is Iodine essential to our bodies survival, it is also along with copper, and boron the key detoxers of heavy metals for our bodies.