So should a healthy person like me, who isn't big on salt, doesn't eat junk food and exercises regularly, be concerned about a potential thyroid problem? Seems paradoxal.

Thanks

Mario

I believe I am one of those 'healthy' people....Last year I started doing what Dr. Guy Abraham suggests...I built up to 50mg of iodine by taking drops of Lugol's Iodine for 3 months. Then slowly reduced the dose to a maintenance dose of 2 drops/12.5 mg. per day.  I also follow a protocol of taking magnesium, B complex, selenium, Vit C, and make sure I get enough Vit D3 mostly from sun (Florida).  In your opinion do you think that 12.5 mgs iodine is a safe dose to take indefinitely.  (I also use some other supplements: fish oil and bio-indentical Progesterone...)  I am a 56 yrs old female.

ummm, the salt used in junk food in non-iodized.

On May 20, 2009 you wrote "My sense is that the Recommended Daily Allowance of 150 mcg per day for adults is low and that many benefit from greater quantities, e.g., 500 mcg. What is is the ideal dose? To my knowledge, nobody has yet generated that data."

In looking for a convenient way to confront my Iodine situation, I realized that I might have on in my backpacking equipment. I use Polar Pure iodine based water disinfectant, which produces a 4 to 5 ppm solution of iodine in water.  This is effectively 1 mg of iodine in an 8 ounce glass. So, taking a glass every day or so would put me in the ballpark of the 150mcg and 500mcg that you mentioned.

It is free, because I already have it, and I am skilled in the use from many backpacking trips.

Is there a test to see if you're iodine deficient?  Do you recommend taking an iodine supplement?

im confused you say the most healthy are deficient, but then their thyriod is messed up?

so is iodine good or bad?

If that's the case, what do you recommend as the best way to test and determine if and how deficient you are, and the best way to ensure you're getting enough?  Thanks!

I exercise, and avoid iodized salt and junk food.

But I also eat lots of eggs (pastured).

Problem solved.

There are cumbersome urinary tests to assess for iodine deficiency, but they are rarely used and are fairly unreliable, since they tend to reflect short-term intake, not overall adequacy.

You've left with a situation much like vitamin C: You'll know you're deficient when your teeth fall out. For iodine, it will be thyroid dysfunction.

It's NOT worth waiting to find out. Everyone should supplement iodine in some form unless, like MaterialGuy, you get it somehow already.

http://www.optimox.com/pics/Iodine/opt_Research_I.shtml
Best iodine research without pharma influence or deceptions.
bruce P

If interested in supplementing iodine, it would seem prudent to get a baseline thyroid level, supplement, and see if it changes for the better. I plan to do this next month, starting at a smallish dose (250-500mcg).

I was a bit skeptical as to dosing iodine, until I read Dr. Davis' recent article for LEF (nice article, by the way) where he recommends 500mcg up to 1 gram, if I remember right. That seems like much more reasonable dose to me as compared to Lugols, etc.

I was also under the false impression than an iodine urine test would be accurate, but it doesn't seem like it would be. A loading test might be a bit more accurate, but that also sounds like a pain to get.... and no insurance would probably pay for it either.

Only other thing to consider is form. Kelp could have some impurities (especially arsenic), so potassium iodide the preferred form to take?

I've read that Lugol's drops or Idoral tablets are good forms to take because they are Potassium Iodide and Iodine. One can make their own Lugol's with ingredients from science companies or off ebay:
5 gm iodine
10 gm potassium iodide
100 ml of distilled water
yields 6.3 mg Iodine per drop

I am currently reading a book called "CLEAN" by Dr. Alejandro Junger.

In it he says many of the same things you say, and ties in many problems we suffer, like thyroid issues, etc. to the condition of our bowels and inflammation.

I would like to read your opinion of this book if you ever get time to review it.

Thanks!

Hi All: I believe I am a perfect example of the case. Since very early age, 16 y o, I was diagnosed with hypertension.
In my early 20s I started to read about salt restriction, exercise and heart disease. By age 35 I started to act "different" though I continue to exercise 4 hours a week, low fat-low salt diet.
I started to have "panic attacks" when in certain situations. Then in the early 90s I was diagnosed with goiter and started taking hypothyroid drugs. The "attacks" went away.
I believe all this was a low iodine diet that affected my life for many decades. Today, I still have hypertension and hypothyroidism but all under control. I also take Iodine.
supplements.

The information here is great. I will invite my friends here.

Thanks

Be careful!  People the American diet is soooo full of iodine!  I have Thyroid Cancer and am currently on a Low Iodine Diet - can't really eat much because there is so much iodine in our foods, not sure I would add iodine or take it without a Dr. recommendation, most other countries don't have it in their foods.  Check out Low Iodine Diets to get a better picture.

So the healthy-eating, exercising person is the one most likely to show iodine deficiency: gradually enlarged thyroid gland (in the neck), declining thyroid function. Over time, if iodine deficiency persists, excessive sensitivity to iodine develops, as well as abnormal thyroid conditions like overactive nodules.

Not all iodine is created equal.  For more information, go to www.Lakodine.com

[...] nodules. Even subtle levels of thyroid dysfunction act as a potent coronary risk factor.   The healthiest people are the most iodine deficient | Track Your Plaque Blog    My website: http://www.shoppinganywhere.net/        Reply With [...]

I'm not surprised at all. I've "met" people on forums that are on this, and they rave about how much better it is than non-prescription fish oil.

Reminds me of years ago, when patients were given (in my area) "Anacin" in the hospital, then would ONLY take it for pain....other brands, or heaven forbid generic just didn't work as well!

Amazing, huh?

On the other hand, like you say, at least now they're giving it to patients.

Now how about Mg? CoQ10? Are they starting to show up too?

Not sure if you find this interesting or not, but after stumbling on your blog not knowing anything about Pectus Excavatum, I went googlin' and got a bit depressed, as it's not as benign a malformation as I was led to believe.

But I found this site http://www.ctds.info/pectus_excavatum.html which suggests that Vit D deficiency/rickets causes the malformation in many cases, and also that celiac disease might cause rickets in some due to malabsorbtion of vitamins/minerals etc.  I thought it was interesting as you've been posting about wheat and vitamin D and heart health, while perhaps they are also necessary for chest wall health.  I take heparin and low dose aspirin while pregnant to prevent fetal demise due to antiphospholipid antibody syndome (aware of that? causes blood clots), but I'm wondering if it somehow inhibited Vit D absorbtion in me when pregnant, couldn't have been a normal deficiency I was gardening in the sun during the entire pregnancy and I don't use sun block. I assume some of your patients are on blood thinners as I was? I know it effects calcium.

As for fish oils, Udo's blends are supposed to be incredible, several moms I know use it on themselves for exhaustion and over all health, and many moms swear that fish oils have helped their toddlers with speech delays.

Let me know if you'd rather I didn't yammer at your blog, I've linked to it from my little blog because I find your blog fascinating.

Happy 2007

As for hospitals, well, there's a reason homebirthers and women into birth politics are as passionately anti-hospital as they are, many bad medical practises continue in the litigation crazed society of the USA medical system, from what I read. Forward thinking countries like Germany and Sweden incorporate natural remedies and holistic medicine right in with the mainstream medical system...great role models for us north americans, but impossible in a litigation-mad culture. But, the pharmaceutical companies are to blame too, though that discussion requires tin oil hats.

Coenzyme Q10, no. Magnesium, yes. In fact, magnesium is pretty routinely checked and replaced via intravenous supplementation to avoid diarrhea. However, magnesium levels are checked because of heart rhythm disorders, not for general health.

I know of no interaction between blood thinners and vitamin D. However, you're absolutely right on the increased likelihood of vitamin D deficiency in the presence of bowel diseases like celiac.

I use RxList.com to check any and all medications I am prescribed (or friends/family are prescribed).

This about Omacor on their site:
The empirical formula of DHA ethyl ester is C24H36O2, and the molecular weight of DHA ethyl ester is 356.55. Omacor®  capsules also contain the following inactive ingredients: 4 mg α-tocopherol (in a carrier of partially hydrogenated vegetable oils including soybean oil), and gelatin, glycerol, and purified water (components of the capsule shell).

I mentioned in another comment that I am intolerant to soy, so I avoid it whenever possible.....but to put hydrogenated oils in a preparation touted as "pure"????

I realise it's a very small amount....but from what I've read on trans-fats, the only amount of transfat that is good for us is NONE!!!

Of course, the AHA also promotes foods that contain transfats in their "No Fad Diet" (see Regina Wilshire's blog post here: http://weightoftheevidence.blogspot.com/2005/07/aha-includes-trans-fats-in-heart.html)