By Jay H Mead MD and Erin Lommen ND.
Wow! The RDA in the US for iodine is 150micrograms/day, which is 1/89th of the 13.8milligrams consumed by the mainland Japanese population. And, guess what? The Japanese population has very little hypothyroidism and breast cancer compared to the US. As it turns out the US RDA was determined to be the minimal amount of iodine to prevent goiter (enlarged thyroid gland) and Cretinism (severe hypothyroidism with mental retardation) and does not take into account that every organ in body, not simply the thyroid gland, requires sufficient iodine for optimal function.
It is an urban legend that there is enough iodine in our salt. The amount of iodine in our salt is based upon the flawed RDA. In fact, until the 1980s, a slice of bread contained the iodine RDA, which helped somewhat. However, this was removed and replaced by Bromide, a goitrogen (enlarges the thyroid) that interferes with iodide utilization in the thyroid and most likely the breasts. Iodine has an anti-carcinogenic effect on the breast ("Orthoiodosupplementation: Iodine sufficiency of the whole human body." The Original Internist: 2002; 9:30-41) and is associated with fibrocystic changes (a precursor to cancer) and painful breasts. According to the WHO 15% of American women are iodine deficient and 1/3 of the world's population is iodine deficient.
So what? As with so many biological systems, optimization of function requires optimal nutrition, and iodine is a very important nutrient. A large percentage of Americans are marginally iodine sufficient, i.e. we ingest enough iodine to keep our glands from enlarging and prevent mental retardation, but not necessarily enough to minimize our risk of cancer and optimize our thyroid hormone production. It is estimated that the majority of patients taking thyroid hormone either don't need it or could reduce their dosage. And, what about the large numbers of patients, mainly female, who have symptoms of low thyroid (hypothyroidism) and are told they have "adequate" hormone levels and are given an anti-depressant. We believe this group of patients is often neglected by the conventional medical model.
The preferred test to determine iodine sufficiency is the "24hr urine loading test". A standard dose of iodine/iodide is ingested and amount passed in the urine over the next 24hrs determines sufficiency. If, for example, one passes less than 90% of the loading dose he or she is deficient and would benefit from iodine/iodide supplementation.
Wow! The RDA in the US for iodine is 150micrograms/day, which is 1/89th of the 13.8milligrams consumed by the mainland Japanese population. And, guess what? The Japanese population has very little hypothyroidism and breast cancer compared to the US. As it turns out the US RDA was determined to be the minimal amount of iodine to prevent goiter (enlarged thyroid gland) and Cretinism (severe hypothyroidism with mental retardation) and does not take into account that every organ in body, not simply the thyroid gland, requires sufficient iodine for optimal function.
It is an urban legend that there is enough iodine in our salt. The amount of iodine in our salt is based upon the flawed RDA. In fact, until the 1980s, a slice of bread contained the iodine RDA, which helped somewhat. However, this was removed and replaced by Bromide, a goitrogen (enlarges the thyroid) that interferes with iodide utilization in the thyroid and most likely the breasts. Iodine has an anti-carcinogenic effect on the breast ("Orthoiodosupplementation: Iodine sufficiency of the whole human body." The Original Internist: 2002; 9:30-41) and is associated with fibrocystic changes (a precursor to cancer) and painful breasts. According to the WHO 15% of American women are iodine deficient and 1/3 of the world's population is iodine deficient.
So what? As with so many biological systems, optimization of function requires optimal nutrition, and iodine is a very important nutrient. A large percentage of Americans are marginally iodine sufficient, i.e. we ingest enough iodine to keep our glands from enlarging and prevent mental retardation, but not necessarily enough to minimize our risk of cancer and optimize our thyroid hormone production. It is estimated that the majority of patients taking thyroid hormone either don't need it or could reduce their dosage. And, what about the large numbers of patients, mainly female, who have symptoms of low thyroid (hypothyroidism) and are told they have "adequate" hormone levels and are given an anti-depressant. We believe this group of patients is often neglected by the conventional medical model.
The preferred test to determine iodine sufficiency is the "24hr urine loading test". A standard dose of iodine/iodide is ingested and amount passed in the urine over the next 24hrs determines sufficiency. If, for example, one passes less than 90% of the loading dose he or she is deficient and would benefit from iodine/iodide supplementation.
0 comments:
Post a Comment