The above image is “raw” iodine, or to be scientifically precise, it is the elemental form of iodine. Yes, iodine is one of the elements, with an atomic number of 53.
Some of you must wonder why we have focused on Iodine so much.
The answer is very simple and comes in three parts:
- Iodine is an essential nutrient; essential to wellness.
- Iodine deficiency is rampant in the US
- Iodine deficiency is ridiculously simple to cure
From the American Thyroid Association:
The thyroid gland is a butterfly-shaped endocrine gland that is normally located in the lower front of the neck. The thyroid’s job is to make thyroid hormone, which is secreted into the blood and then carried to every tissue in the body. Thyroid hormone is essential to help each cell in each tissue and organ to work right. For example, thyroid hormone helps the body use energy, stay warm, and keep the brain, heart, muscles, and other organs working as they should.
Let me emphasize: The thyroid’s job is to make thyroid hormone, which is secreted into the blood and then carried to every tissue in the body.
That hormone is called thyroxine, and it contains 4 iodine atoms. Without iodine, your body will not function properly, period.
From the World Health Organization:
Iodine Deficiency is the world’s most prevalent – yet easily preventable – cause of brain damage. Today we are on the verge of eliminating it – an achievement that will be hailed as a major public health triumph, ranking together with smallpox and poliomyelitis.
Iodine deficiency disorders (IDD) jeopardize children’s mental health – often their very lives. They start before birth. Serious iodine deficiency during pregnancy may result in stillbirths, abortions and congenital abnormalities such as cretinism, a grave, irreversible form of mental retardation that affects people living in iodine-deficient areas of Africa and Asia. However, of far greater global and economic significance is IDD’s less visible, yet more pervasive, level of mental impairment that lowers intellectual prowess at home, at school and at work.
Few realize the connection between iodine deficiency and autism. From an article that is no longer on the web, we found the following:
For pregnant women, the situation is compounded. Iodine deficiency during pregnancy can cause long-lasting harm to the mother and create serious, if not fatal, consequences for the fetus; especially for brain development. Studies have shown that even a mild incidence of iodine deficiency during pregnancy can be adverse to a child’s cognitive development. Unfortunately, this damage is irreversible and often influences brain function.
Iodine deficiency is not an issue pregnant, or thinking of becoming pregnant, women should be nonchalant about; the results can be serious and it’s more common than you think. In Belgium, for example, a study found thyroid disorders affected 1 in 6 pregnant women. Monitoring and managing iodine intake during pregnancy can ensure the long-term health of the mother and child.
However, in this article,”Autism four times likelier when mother’s thyroid is weakened,” you can see the above assertions are backed up.
Dr Brownstein’s book should be in every home in the land. Not only does he show how deficient we all are, he points out symptoms (results) of this deficiency, gives real human examples of this deficiency, outlines those things that cause us to be deficient, gives real human examples of how health improves when the body gets enough iodine, and touches on new research in the field on iodine and especially iodine in fighting cancers (especially breast cancer).
Of all the elements known so far to be essential for human health, iodine is the most misunderstood and the most feared. Yet, iodine is the safest of all the essential trace elements, being the only one that can be administered safely for long periods of time to large numbers of patients in daily amounts as high as 100,000 times the RDA. However, this safety record only applies to inorganic, nonradioactive forms of iodine. Some organic iodine containing drugs are extremely toxic and prescribed by physicians. The severe side effects of these drugs are blamed on inorganic iodine although studies have clearly demonstrated that it is the whole molecule that is toxic, not the iodine released from it.
The daily dosage of Iodine, the most optimal dosage, is between 12.5 mg and 50 mg. Iodine is stored in the body, and it can take nearly a year taking 12.5 mg per day to get the body’s levels up to sufficiency.
Editor’s Note: This dosage is for potassium iodide which can be purchased everywhere it seems. However, Edgar Cayce’s Atomidine is the most recognizable iodine by the human body. And it is his “second” formula that produced the most powerful form of Atomidine, which today is made by only one person, one company, and the product is called Magnascent. We review it here: Magnascent. Cayce claimed that just 3 to 5 drops daily were enough to maintain sufficient and healthy iodine levels.
Brownstein also shows us a few things that will lower our iodine levels, such as pastas and breads, chlorinated water, diets deficient in fish (vegan, vegetarian diets), and salt-restricted diets.
I really hate to give away the meat of a book I was sent to review (why should anyone buy the book?), but you can read more about Brownstein’s book here: http://www.mbschachter.com/Iodine.htm
Here is a paragraph from the above website:
The commonly accepted medical opinion is that iodine’s only role in the body is to help make thyroid hormones. Although this is an extremely important function, Abraham demonstrates that the role of iodine in the body goes far beyond its function of making thyroid hormones. Other possible functions include: helping to regulate moods, preventing cancer (especially in breasts, ovaries, uterus, prostate and thyroid gland), preventing and treating fibrocystic breasts in women, helping to regulate blood pressure, helping to regulate blood sugar and prevent and treat diabetes, and helping to prevent abnormal cardiac rhythms. For example, Japanese women, who have one of the lowest breast cancer rates in the world, ingest more than 13 mg of iodine daily from seaweed without suffering any adverse consequences. He further demonstrates that iodine tends to be antibacterial, antiviral, antiparasitic, and antifungal and that it enhances immune function. Furthermore, he suggests that suboptimal iodine intake may contribute to various thyroid abnormalities commonly seen today, including hypothyroidism (underactive), hyperthyroidism (overactive) and autoimmune inflammation of the thyroid (Hashimoto’s Disease).
One cancer overlooked above that seems to be related to an iodine deficiency is endometrial cancer.
Iodine is Antibacterial, antiviral, antifungal, antiparasitic, anti-inflamatory when it comes to preventing Hashimot’s Disease, or autoimmune inflammation.
Though iodine is best known to affect our metabolism, its functions are far and varied:
… it helps to regulate moods, preventing cancer (especially in breasts, ovaries, uterus, prostate and thyroid gland), preventing and treating fibrocystic breasts in women, helping to regulate blood pressure, helping to regulate blood sugar and prevent and treat diabetes, and helping to prevent abnormal cardiac rhythms. [http://content.nejm.org/cgi/content/abstract/332/9/562]
Dr Browstein outlines a laundry list of disorders treated with iodine:
- Breast Disease
- Dupuytren’s Contracture
- Excess Mucous Production
- Fatigue
- Fibrocystic Breasts
- Hemorrhoids
- Headaches and Migraine
- Headaches
- Keloids
- Ovarian Cysts
- Parotid Duct Stones
- Peyronie’s
- Sebaceous Cysts
- Thyroid Disorders
- Cancers (breast, ovarian, thyroid, prostate)
Now we get to the controversial part: how to take Iodine.
Dr Abraham invented a form he’s using both in his studies and with his patients that is called Iodoral® which contains 5 mg iodine and 7.5 mg iodide as the potassium salt (which just happens to be the optimum ratio of iodine to iodide that Abraham has found in his research). To reach a “full load” of iodine, Abraham loads his patients with 4 Iodoral® tablets and 8 drops of Lugol’s solution for a three month period. Personally, instead of Lugol’s, I prefer Magnascent, an nascent form of iodine brought to us from a reading by Edgar Cayce. I use it because of Magnascent’s energy. You can read about it here: Magnascent™. We also talk about it at the end of this article.
The above MUST be done under a doctor’s supervision, because once you reach your “full load” just three drops of Lugol’s solution can be toxic. You don’t have this problem with Magnascent. And there is a way to test, at home, if you are iodine-deficient.
Some physicians recommend potassium iodide, but this does not contain Abraham’s ratio of iodine to iodide. However, potassium iodide has been used with great success in helping to open clogged arteries, cure bladder infections, eliminate (or reduce) ovarian cysts, diminish keloids (raised pinkish scar tissue at the site of an injury; results from excessive tissue repair), loosen thick bronchial phlegm, help in reducing (and curing, at times) Peyronie’s Disease (painful erections, or a bending of the penis during erection) and Dupuytren’s contracture (rare hand deformity in which the connective tissue (fascia) under the skin of the palm thickens and scars; knots (nodes) and cords of tissue form under the skin, often pulling one or more of the fingers into a bent (contracted) position), and finally its original use that many who have served in the military will remember, to disinfect water.
I’m not sure how many physicians are privy to testing for proper iodine sufficiency or how many know the hazards. I’ve discovered that adding iodine to the body chases certain minerals out of the body. This is something I’m going to have to research further. But finding a physician, naturopath, or nutritionist (dieticians know squat about iodine) is up to you. Again, we’ve written this article for you to learn how to test at home, or with a physicians help, your iodine sufficiency.
Finally, there is Magnascent™. This product has not been tested by the FDA, but it has had two small clinical studies, one in Israel and another in India (which you can read about here): Review of Magnascent™.
One does not take Magnascent™ (necessarily) to fight a deficiency (more on this in our review on Magnascent™), but rather as therapy. Ten drops a day is not even close to the amount required in your body, but, and readers have told me, it can give you that extra lift you’re needing. It’s best to add this to water first thing in the morning. One uses it for energy, though adding it to your regimen of Iodoral® or Lugol’s Formula will help retain sufficient amounts of iodine.
Additionally, Magnascent, because it is energetic, we have seen anecdotal accounts that it just stays in your body longer than any form you take orally, except for the iodine you get from fish. Taking oral iodine doesn’t necessarily mean it will stay in your body. You have to realize that most forms of iodine come to you as a potassium salt. If you know anything about salts, then you know they are water soluble and we pass them quickly. Except for some waste products, urine and tears are the same chemical composition. We’ve all tasted tears, and they are salty.
A combination of Magnascent and Lugol’s Formula or Iodoral® (my favorite) will maintain the correct amount in your body. But testing can be done at home.
It is also perfect for your first aid kit; for cuts and scrapes, especially if you cannot clean the cut (lack of water and soap). You can also add it to your shampoo and use it for fungus, toe fungus, ear fungus, etc. Any itching on your head, and it will be gone if you massage in a couple of drops.
The links to Iordoral® are part of our affiliate program. You support this site by purchasing products via those links. [In fact, as I update this article, 8/25/18, I ordered Iodoral® from Swanson today.]
Update 8/28/18
Someone just wrote to me asking how much Magnascent™ I add to my shampoo. Well, my shampoo comes in a 6 oz bottle. I split it up half and half into two bottles. I had a teaspoon or two of BACO, and three eyedropper squirts of Magnascent™ to each bottle.