Everyone knows that vitamins and minerals are essential for a healthy body. However, most people don’t know that some of these nutrients are much harder to obtain than others. Iodine is depleted in soils, and therefore it is hard to obtain from diet.
Iodine and thyroid function
Iodine is commonly thought of as essential for the thyroid, and that is true. Without sufficient iodine, the thyroid can swell causing goitre. Low thyroid function means low thyroid hormones, which causes many problems such as fatigue, weakness, cold sensitivity, weight gain, high cholesterol, joint pain, hair loss, depression, memory loss and more.
Our modern environment contains many other chemicals which can take the place of iodine if the diet does not contain enough. These chemicals such as bromine found in flame retardants and bread products, chlorine in water and bleach, and fluorine in water and toothpastes are toxic to the body, and serve no function. These chemicals become incorporated into the thyroid when iodine is lacking. Taking iodine allows the body to push out the harmful substances and start functioning properly again.
Iodine for influenza and coronaviruses
Iodine kills viruses on surfaces, but it has also been shown to be effective at treating it in the body. In the paper “Iodine: the Forgotten Weapon Against Influenza Viruses”, Dr Derry describes how the presence of iodine in the mucosa of the nose and lungs can kill influenza on contact. Iodine vapour when inhaled also showed anti-viral activity. Iodine is effective because not pathogen can develop a resistance to it due to the mechanism of action.
Other surprising benefits of iodine
Every cell in body needs iodine to function, which means restoring your iodine levels can have unexpected benefits. Iodine can:
- Help the body to clear damaged cells via apoptosis
- Lower risk of certain cancers
- Support immune function
- Prevent heart disease
- Destroy viruses, bacteria, molds, fungi, parasites and malaria
- Heal skin conditions including scarring
- Improve hairloss
- Activate hormone receptors & regulate hormone production
- Reduce the need for insulin in diabetics
- Improve cellular energy levels (ATP)
- Reduce fibrocystic breast disease
- Detoxify heavy metals and halogens
- Cleanse the lymphatic system
- Work as an antioxidant to reduce oxidative stress
- Improve protein synthesis
- Increase mental capacity (IQ)
- Offset damaged caused my electromagnetic frequencies
- Support pregnancy
- Treat lung disease, syphilis, and Alzheimer’s
- And much more (click here for extensive research links)
Dosage
Although the recommend daily amount of iodine RDA is 150-200 MICROgrams, with a upper limit of 1.1 milligrams, this is not based on sound science. A poorly performed study in 1948 proposed that too much iodine could cause thyroid problems, but this has never been demonstrated in people. Before that study, iodine was commonly given to the sick in much larger doses as a cure-all, as well as being added to bread at levels equivalent to about 100 micrograms per slice. Iodine was also found in milk and dairy products, because it was used as a sterilising agent on the cow’s udders.
Researchers who have studied iodine in depth have found that doses from 10-200 milligrams to be safe. The average Japanese person consumes 13.8 milligrams per day due to their high dietary intake of seaweed and fish. The recommended dose for most people is 12-50 milligrams per day, up to 100 milligrams for diabetics. This can be taken as Lugol’s Iodine drops, or as Iodoral iodine pills.
Thanks to Dr Gabriel Cousens for sharing your excellent research on iodine. You can learn more information about the claims in this post by clicking here.
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