Iodine Is Your Best Weapon

against Thyroid Problems

75% iodine is stored in your thyroid gland (2-3 months’ supply). Also, iodine is detected in every organ and tissue in the body. It is found in liver, lung, heart, and adrenal glands. It is found in the highest concentrations in fat and muscle tissue.

Your cells don’t get the energy juice they need and you get thyroid dysfunction with many symptoms. Iodine is perhaps the biggest piece of the puzzle when it comes to thyroid hormones. It is a vitally important nutrient that is detected in every organ and tissue. It is essential for healthy thyroid function and efficient metabolism.

Though thyroid health is often what people think of when they think of iodine, other tissues also absorb and use large amounts of iodine, including your breasts, skin, salivary glands, pancreas, brain, stomach, cerebral spinal fluid, and thymus. Iodine deficiency in any of these tissues will lead to tissue dysfunction.

During our entire lifetime, we only require a little more than a teaspoonful of iodine, but since the body does not store iodine, we need to consume it regularly to support consistent thyroid hormone production. The body is able to absorb iodine in both the organic and inorganic state, both readily available in a normal, well-balanced diet.

From 1900 to the 1960s almost every single U.S. physician used iodine supplements in his or her practice for both hypo - and hyperthyroid, as well as many, many other conditions - all with excellent results. In fact, iodine was considered a panacea for all human. Iodine has been considered so important that up until 20 years ago, it had been routinely added to bread as a supplement. Now because of politics and fear of iodine, the thyroid-toxin bromine has taken its place as a bread supplement. And in the past 20 years there has been an increased prevalence of obesity, diabetes, and hypertension, as well as more thyroid and breast cancers.

That is quite a statement from a former professor of Endocrinology and a man who pioneered ways to analyze iodine and minute quantities of hormones in the body. This man in the past 35 years has received more biochemistry, diagnostics, clinical chemistry, and hormone and iodine research awards than anyone. And he has studied iodine therapy in high doses in over 4,000 people - publishing his findings in a document titled "The Iodine Project." These findings once and for all dispelled the medical myth and fear of iodine therapy.

Thyroidologists like Dr. Abraham have learned of the tremendous benefits of what they call whole body iodine sufficiency - when the body is saturated with sufficient iodine to supply all the tissues. Along the way, they have also discovered some amazing things about current thyroid treatment, thyroid drugs, and iodine. The very first thing discovered is that iodine is the treatment of choice for hypo- and hyperthyroid problems - with or without goiter.

In case of deficiency of Iodine I recommend to my patients supplement Prolamine Iodine from Standard Process. It is used for hyper/hypothyroidism, PMS, menopausal/hot flash symptoms, Iodine therapy. It contains protein-bound iodine and supports healthy iodine levels, healthy thyroid function, designed for short-term use to support serum iodine levels.

In cases of hypothyroidism that are autoimmune, meaning the body’s immune system is attacking its own tissue, supplemental or high dietary iodine can actually cause what is known as a flare-up. In any autoimmune condition, when a flare-up occurs, tissue destruction is at an all-time high. The only time you would want to supplement with iodine is if there is a true iodine deficiency, or if you are certain that your hypothyroidism is not autoimmune.