The healthiest people are the most iodine deficient

16. November 2009 William Davis (19)
Here's an informal observation.

The healthiest people are the most iodine deficient.

The healthier you are, the more likely you are to:

--Avoid junk foods--30% of which have some iodine from salt
--Avoid overuse of iodized salt
--Exercise--Sweating causes large losses of iodine.

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.

Even subtle levels of thyroid dysfunction act as a potent coronary risk factor.
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Comments (19) -

  • Makoss

    11/16/2009 2:29:19 PM |

    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

  • trix

    11/16/2009 2:50:44 PM |

    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.

  • Anonymous

    11/16/2009 3:18:08 PM |

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

  • Materialguy

    11/16/2009 3:59:22 PM |

    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.

  • Kassidy

    11/16/2009 4:15:54 PM |

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

  • Anonymous

    11/16/2009 5:21:10 PM |

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

    so is iodine good or bad?

  • Anonymous

    11/16/2009 7:40:02 PM |

    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!

  • Brian

    11/16/2009 8:25:54 PM |

    I exercise, and avoid iodized salt and junk food.

    But I also eat lots of eggs (pastured).

    Problem solved.

  • Dr. William Davis

    11/17/2009 12:40:51 AM |

    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.

  • Anonymous

    11/17/2009 1:41:37 AM |

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

  • Nameless

    11/17/2009 1:45:33 AM |

    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?

  • trix

    11/17/2009 2:06:12 PM |

    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

  • Anonymous

    11/17/2009 4:25:40 PM |

    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!

  • Alfredo E.

    11/18/2009 3:10:30 AM |

    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.

  • Anonymous

    1/25/2010 3:09:50 PM |

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

    Thanks

  • Andrew and Amy

    10/20/2010 1:47:20 AM |

    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.

  • buy jeans

    11/3/2010 6:40:28 PM |

    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.

  • Lakodine

    3/23/2011 6:47:26 PM |

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

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Divorce court for the doctor-patient relationship?

Divorce court for the doctor-patient relationship?

10. August 2008 William Davis (4)
The doctor-patient relationship has gone sour.

This probably comes as no surprise to most of you, particularly if you've been following conversations here in The Heart Scan Blog:

Who is your doctor? discussing the emergence of the physician-as-hospital-employee phenomenon that causes your doctor to become the de facto portal (seller?) of hospital services to you, a model fraught with conflicts of interest.

Exploitation of trust, my observation that the enormous gap in heart disease prevention between the woefully ignorant (by necessity) level of sophistication of the primary care physician and the procedure-obsessed cardiologist leads to an exploitation of humans-for-heart-procedures because of the failure to institute genuine preventive efforts.

Bait and switch , a description of how a minor test or symptom can reap a bonanza of medical testing; a $20 "screening" test yields $10's of thousands in hospital procedures. If it were entirely due to the imprecision of medical testing and detection of disease, that might be forgivable. But it often is not: It has become utterly distorted by the profit model.



Lest you think that I am a kook ranting off in some backwoods corner (Milwaukee), here are the comments of New York Times' Health Editor Tara Parker-Pope in a series called Doctor and Patient, Now at Odds:

Lately I've been hearing a lot from patients who are frustrated, angry, and distrustful of doctors. Their feelings speak to a growing disconnect between doctors and patients and worries that drug companies, insurance rules, and hospital cost-cutting are influencing the care and advice that doctors provide.

Research shows that even among patients who like their personal physicians, there is a simmering distrust of the medical system and the doctors who work inside it.


(There's also a series of candid video interviews with people who echo these sentiments.)

There are a number of reasons for this increasing "disconnect," some of them articulated by Ms. Parker-Pope, others detailed in my blog posts.

The solutions, however, will not be found by advancing technology: the newest robotic surgery, a better defibrillator, a new statin drug, the next best chemotherapeutic agent. It will not be found by adding a new wing to the hospital. It will not be found by the reorganization of healthcare delivery achieved by converting primary care and specialty practice into an arm of hospital care. It will not be improved by employing "hospitalists." It will not emerge from legislation controlling insurance company practices. It certainly will not come from increasing marketing dollars spent by drug companies (who make $4 for every $1 spent on direct-to-consumer marketing).

The solutions will come from shifting the idea of care from a paternalistic, "I'm the doctor and I'll tell you what to do" approach, to the doctor-as-advocate-and-supporter of the patient. The physician should act as someone with a particular sort of expertise that can advise a patient.

But a caveat: The patient MUST be informed.

Proper information will not originate with the doctor. It will originate with internet-based information portals and tools that help you understand the issues, often with far greater depth than your doctor could ever provide. The physician needs to accept this role, one of advocate, adviser, but not of being in charge, not of viewing the patient as profit-center, not as an opponent in a power struggle.

Sadly, the last few years in online information portals has been dominated by the drug company-dominated websites like WebMD, nothing more than a deliverer of the conventional wisdom with nothing whatsoever aimed towards empowering patients in a self-directed healthcare model.

Some people call the emerging new empowered and information-armed patient Medicine 2.0. Unfortunately, Medicine 2.0 will first benefit the intellectual upper crust of Americans, the web-savvy and motivated to engage in health issues. But, give it 10 years, and we will witness the effects on an unprecedented broad scale. Part of the Information Age is acceleration of information dissemination. Imagine your children, facile with a computer mouse, posting comments on FaceBook, doing homework with Google and Wikipedia, now turning their attentions to health.

It will be a startling change.

In the meantime, be wary. Be empowered. Think increasingly about self-direction in your health.


In a comment to the Bait and switch post, Jennytoo offered an insightful response:

You are getting to the essence of the problem, and it's not just cardiology that is rife with what is, at bottom, malpractice.

There is little incentive for the profession as a whole to know anything about or promote prevention, and many incentives from hospitals, drug and insurance companies to stick with the status quo or to change it in their corporate favor. The formulaic, conventional statements purporting to be guidelines for prevention that are put out by various interest groups and in such publications as hospital-sponsored newsletters ("eat a 'balanced diet', avoid stress, etc.") are useless sops to the concept of prevention.

It is, and I fear is going to remain, up to motivated individuals, both physicians and patients, to reshape the system, and it's going to be a long frustrating struggle.

It's my personal conviction that if just 4 things were promoted to the public, and people actually practiced them, we could change the health profiles of the majority of people in this country for the better within two years or less. They are:

(1) education on and promotion of a true low-carbohydrate, whole foods, diet,
(2) measurement and supplementation of Vitamin D3,
(3) supplementation with DHA/EPA (found in Fish Oils), and
(4) measurement and supplementation of intracellular magnesium.

I am not a health professional, and others may want to add to this list, but I don't think any strong case can be made against any of the items. The wonderful and hopeful thing is that each of us can implement them ON OUR OWN, and thereby take charge of our own well-being. (The Life Extension Foundation is one organization which provides access to lab tests you can request on your own.)

If you have a physician who is willing and capable of being your partner, you are richly blessed, and that is the ideal we all should hope for. But in the more likely event that you do not have such a physician, and if your physician demonstrates little potential for becoming one, think about firing the one you have and finding another.

Sometimes we are forced by circumstances, particularly urgent ones, to deal with physicians who are not ideal, but the main impetus for change will come from us, the patients, and the expectations we communicate to our individual doctors. In the meantime, we can be self-reliant in our own prevention practices.

Wow. A woman after my own heart.
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Comments (4) -

  • Anonymous

    8/12/2008 5:44:00 AM |

    It's Tara Parker-Pope.

  • Dr. William Davis

    8/12/2008 11:43:00 AM |

    Oops!

    Thanks. Corrected.

  • Anonymous

    8/13/2008 3:39:00 AM |

    can somebody expand on the thought of supplementation of intracellular magnesium ?
    Thank you

  • Jenny

    8/14/2008 4:13:00 PM |

    Hopefully, Dr. Davis will correct any misinfo in this reply when he moderates. By "intracellular" I was referring in my comment to MEASUREMENT of Magnesium levels, rather than supplementation.  It's my understanding that serum measurement (a blood draw) may not accurately reflect absolute levels of Magnesium in the body.  That is, if a blood test shows low serum Magnesium levels, you can be assured that Intracellular levels are low--but that Intracellular levels may be low without having it reflected in blood testing.  There are other methods of testing available--one is called ExaTest, and is done by testing a smear of buccal cells.  (Can also reveal intracellular levels of other minerals/electrolytes.)  Supplementation can be accomplished in various ways, and ideally would be done with the help of a physician. Magnesium can be delivered by IV,(obviously must be done in a medical setting), by oral supplementation, which can best be done through supplements such as Magnesium Citrate, Taurate,or Maleate or by making and drinking Magnesium Bicarbonate Water (made by combining proper proportions of Milk of Magnesia and Seltzer--google for details, or see
    Mgwater.com)  Some supplementation can also be accomplished by absorption through the skin, which is best done by soaking in Epsom Salts.  I don't know the relative effectiveness of this method, but it certainly is relaxing and soothing to muscles.  Magnesium taken in the evening is said to help some people sleep better, and it seems from personal experience to be true for me.  There is lots of good, reliable  info about Magnesium at mgwater.com, and also on the TrackYourPlaque site if you are a member.  Hope this clarifies my meaning.  It seems to me that  supplementation, no matter how it is done, should affect all reservoirs of Magnesium in the body, if it is in adequate amounts, but IV supplementation would be the most intensive and quickest form.  I believe it can take a few weeks to months to correct deficiencies orally.  People with normal kidney function can  safely supplement Magnesium, but those with abnormal kidney function should consult their physicians.

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C-reactive protein: Fiction from the drug industry?

C-reactive protein: Fiction from the drug industry?

21. December 2009 William Davis (0)
C-reactive protein (CRP) is the liver product of inflammatory responses anywhere in the body. If there's an inflamed left knee, CRP will be increased. If viral bronchitis is making you cough, then CRP will be increased.

The argument put forward by the drug industry is that, because CRP indicates underlying inflammation, very low-grade levels that can be measured in the absence of overt inflammation like the sore knee or bronchitis is associated with increased risk for cardiovascular events. There are now many studies that conclusively demonstrate that, the higher the CRP, the greater the cardiovascular risk.

Naturally, any marker of risk is followed by the inevitable study: Do statin drugs reduce the excess cardiovascular risk of excessive CRP?

And, yes, indeed they do. My statin-crazed colleagues rave about the so-called "pleiotropic," or non-lipid, effects of statins. CRP reduction and the reduction of risk associated with CRP result with statin treatment.

But is life really statin vs. placebo, as most statin trials are constructed? Are there strategies that can outdo statins like Crestor for reduction of CRP?

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Are there still unexplored causes of heart disease?

Are there still unexplored causes of heart disease?

23. August 2006 William Davis (0)
I met a woman today. She had her first heart attack at age 37. She just had her 2nd heart attack this morning, at age 40.

Several issues are surprising about her story. First, she's pre-menopausal. Heart attacks before menopause are unusual. We'll occasionally see women have a heart attack before or during menopausal years only if they're heavy smokers and/or they have had diabetes (either type I or type II) for many years. But this young woman had neither. She is slender and has never smoked.

Even more surprising are her basic lipid values: LDL cholesterol 35 mg/dl, HDL 150 mg/dl, triglycerides 317 mg/dl. This is a very unusual pattern.

Unfortunately, this is all developing acutely in the hospital. (I've just met her today--she's not a Track Your Plaquer!) Lipoprotein analysis would be extremely interesting. In particular, I'd like to see whether she has any other markers besides elevated triglycerides of a "post-prandial" abnormality, i.e., persistence of abnormal particles after eating. The high triglycerides make this quite likely.

If this proves true, the omega-3 fatty acids from fish oil will be a lifesaving treatment for her, since they dramatically reduce both triglycerides as well as persistent postprandial particles like intermediate-density lipoprotein (IDL). (Track Your Plaque Members: See the Special Report on Postprandial Abnormalities on the present home page at www.cureality.com for a more in-depth discussion of this fascinating collection of patterns that is just started to be explored.)

In the real world, especially acute care medicine, there's always a kicker: she speaks no English. Unfortunately, communicating the intricacies of a powerful program like ours that aims to identify all causes of heart disease, then corrects then and aims for coronary plaque regression, is difficult if not impossible.

I also do occasionally worry that, given this woman's extraordinary risk at a young age, and overall very unusual lipid patterns (HDL 150?!), if there are causes presently beyond our reach. We have to make use of the tools available to us for now.
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Get a heart scan--but then don't delay taking action!

Get a heart scan--but then don't delay taking action!

19. May 2006 William Davis (2)
I just came from one of the local hospitals after having performed a heart catheterization on a patient I met earlier this week.

Jack had gotten a heart scan a year ago with a score of 246, placing him in the 76th percentile. The "event" rate with this percentile rank is around 3% per year--not very high but enough to pose risk over a long period.

Jack chose to ignore his score. After all, the pressures of work at the University, maintaining his home and yard, etc. consumed all his energies. He came to my office--now one year after his scan--and told me about the chest pressure he was getting. Initially, his chest pains occurred with extended walking. In the past week, however, Jack was experiencing chest pressure with just walking 30 feet.

This pattern of increasing symptoms is called "accelerated angina", meaning that Jack was rapidly heading towards a heart attack. So I advised a heart catheterization in near future.

Jack's catheterization showed extensive plaque including a 50% blockage in the mainstem artery and 90% in the artery to the front of the heart (left anterior descending artery). Jack is going to have a bypass operation tomorrow.

What if Jack hadn't ignored his heart scan from a year ago? Well, I'd be very confident in saying that he would not be undergoing bypass surgery tomorrow.

The lesson: Don't dilly-dally on taking action to keep your plaque from growing. While it's not an emergency, it can easily become one if you choose to ignore your scan.
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Comments (2) -

  • Anonymous

    5/18/2006 8:46:00 PM |

    Thanks for the wake-up call! I know too many people in this exact same situation and I'm going to encourage them TODAY to FINALLY do something about it!  Keep on blogging!

  • Vb

    5/6/2014 8:44:25 PM |

    I also received a score of 246 with 199 in volume my doctor a week later put me on a tread mill test which he said was perfect after that test the blood flow was good however I am scared about my heart ct scoring test Is there anything I can do to reverse this even a little bitand does this mean there is a lot of plaque in my arteries wow I am turning 49 years old in june boy I need help I think

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Heart health consultation with Dr. Joe D. Goldstrich

Heart health consultation with Dr. Joe D. Goldstrich

20. June 2010 William Davis (3)
Cardiologist, nutritionist, and lipidologist, Dr. Joe D. Goldstrich, is a frequent contributor to the Track Your Plaque Forum, where we discuss the full range of issues relevant to coronary health and coronary plaque reversal.

I have come to value Dr. Goldstrich's unique insights, especially in nutrition. Formerly National Director of Education and Community Programs for the American Heart Association and a physician at the Pritikin Center, his dietary philosophy has evolved away from low-fat and towards a low-carbohydrate focus, much as we use in Track Your Plaque. Like TYP, Dr. Goldstrich is always searching for better answers to gain control over coronary health. His unique blend of ideas and background has helped us craft new ideas and strategies. Dr. Goldstrich has proven especially adept at understanding how to incorporate new findings from clinical studies in our framework of coronary atherosclerotic plaque management strategies.

Dr. Goldstrich is offering to share his expertise with our online community. If you would like a one-on-one phone consultation with Dr. Goldstrich, you can arrange to speak with him at his HealthyHeartConsultant.com website.
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Comments (3) -

  • Home Energy

    8/22/2010 10:10:15 AM |

    Heart health is more important so we must take care of that. We should provide intentions for that.

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Firefighters Face Added Risk of Fatal Heart Attack

Firefighters Face Added Risk of Fatal Heart Attack

22. March 2007 William Davis (1)
Firefighters are twice as likely to die from a heart attack in the line of duty than are policemen, and three times more likely than EMTs.

That's among the headlines run today because of a report in the New England Journal of Medicine documenting a dramatically higher risk for heart attack for fire fighters putting out fires. The above headline is from an excellent report run on NPR radio. You can listen to the webcast at http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=9047656.

The story sparked comments from experts insisting that all fire fighters should have physicals, should be in better physical condition, should be covered by health insurance (the NPR report said that 1 out of 4 fire fighters lack health insurance). Judging from the indisputable risk firefighters encounter, these are all good ideas.

But if you've been following my blog or the Track Your Plaque program, you know that physicals alone are hopeless exercises for identifying hidden heart disease. Among the solutions: identify whether or not heart disease is present in the first place--do a CT heart scan.

In fact, several local fire companies in my area have done just that: insisting that all firefighters undergo a heart scan. When groups of people like firefighters arrange for heart scans, they gain the advantage of doing so en masse, thereby allowing many scan centers to offer a dramatically reduced price to the city, town, or village that is paying for them. I've even seen many firefighters scanned at no cost.

It would also help to have health insurance, be physically fit, and have a stress test (an exception to my view that stress tests are also useless to screen asymptomatic people for heart disease). But a CT heart scan would settle the question quickly, easily, undeniably, and inexpensively.
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Comments (1) -

  • Rich

    11/15/2007 7:31:00 PM |

    Thanks for this article.

    I can't accept NPR's statement that 25% of firefighters have no health insurance. I think that all permanent public employees everwhere in the US have health insurance. A firefighter's union would certainly secure this benefit.

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