Why don’t doctors?

What kind of recommendation will it take for you to commit to taking an iodine supplement every day? The World Health Organization is clear. The WHO calls iodine deficiency “the world’s most prevalent, yet easily preventable, cause of brain damage.”1

The big problem is that an all-too- common iodine deficiency, which can result in a number of iodine deficiency disorders, often starts before birth. This puts a child’s brain development and lifelong health at risk. Severe iodine deficiency during pregnancy can even cause stillbirth, which is why most of the iodine focus is on pregnant women.

An iodine supplement for pregnant women is critical, but there’s more to the story. The WHO recommends extra iodine for everyone – this includes men, women, children, and the elderly.2 The American Thyroid Association is also a driving force behind the movement to include a daily serving of iodine in prenatal vitamins for pregnant and breastfeeding women.3 If an iodine supplement is essential for daily health and thyroid, endocrine, heart, metabolism, and immune function, why aren’t doctors prescribing it?

IODINE IS THE BUILDING BLOCK OF HEALTH

You can also call iodine the misunderstood mineral. Your body needs much more of this vital mineral than many medical professionals acknowledge. Patients are often told by their doctors that their thyroid produces all the iodine they need, when even the World Health Organization states that this simply is not true.

Iodine was the very first nutrient designated as an essential part of the human diet. Even before birth, iodine contributes to healthy growth and development – this includes support for normal cognitive function, energy- producing metabolism, nervous system function, and thyroid hormone production and regulation.

Iodine is everywhere in your body, and it is doing much more than you realize. As iodine regulates thyroid function and manages metabolism, it helps to stabilize the heart rate, maintain a healthy weight, keep the body warm, and preserve digestive health.

Iodine is indispensable for women’s health. A woman needs iodine to support breast health, function, and shape. Iodine deficiency has been linked to a number of reproductive issues, including ovarian cysts and reproductive dysfunction. Iodine is considered a primary protective mineral in the prevention of uterine, breast, ovary, and even prostate cancer.4

The reality of iodine deficiency is frightening. To make matters worse, most of our population is iodine deficient, and we don’t even know it.

Hundreds of years ago, iodine deficiency was not a problem. Our ancestors gleaned this critical nutrient from food grown in mineral-rich soil. Today, because of agricultural practices that have caused mass soil depletion along with the use of chemical fertilizers, our food supply has been robbed of the vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants we so desperately need, one of the most important being iodine.

We are told to increase iodine in the diet first of all. Iodine can be found in shellfish and fish, as well as fortified cereals and grains. But iodine intake that comes through packaged foods brings us right back to the problem: Iodine levels in food are wildly unpredictable. Iodine in food can fluctuate, depending on the quality of soil it’s grown in.

IODIZED SALT IS NOT ENOUGH

The World Health Organization recommends iodized salt as an answer to this worldwide iodine problem. The WHO’s recommendation for a daily iodine supplement for everyone is correct, but table salt is not the solution.

One hundred years ago, doctors advised adding 150 μg of an unnatural form of iodine, known as potassium iodide, to processed salt. This “junk salt” is the last thing your body needs – it is just sodium with all other minerals taken out. Iodized table salt is made from a manufactured form of sodium with synthetic chemicals added. Not only is iodized table salt ineffective as an iodine supplement, but it can be toxic.

Your body needs salt, and your body needs iodine, but not combined in a processed form like iodized table salt. 3 to 5 tablespoons of sea or rock salt can meet your daily salt requirement, best used with a highly absorbable iodine supplement. Researchers have discovered another skeleton in the closet of iodized table salt. When Texas scientists, concerned about the alarmingly low iodine intake in the Western World, tested iodized table salt, they were shocked at what they found. 53 per cent of iodized table salt samples had less iodine than the recommended level provided by the FDA.5

If you are relying on iodized table salt for your daily dose of iodine, it’s almost impossible to get the mineral support your body needs.

THE ONLY WAY TO TAKE YOUR DAILY IODINE

Even the World Health Organization agrees: Iodine deficiency is a serious problem that can contribute to defect and disease. We all need iodine every day, though many doctors still underestimate its importance. The WHO recommends iodized table salt as a Band-Aid for this iodine epidemic, which we now know is not nearly effective enough.

Your body needs a daily iodine supplement in a form it can use, with support from a nutrient cofactor that makes iodine even more effective.

To prevent an iodine deficiency that can lead to a serious health problem, it is all about iodine uptake. Atomic iodine, also known as nascent iodine, is more effective than any iodine supplement you will find – including potassium iodide in table salt and iodine tablets.

Consumable iodine in the atomic form rather than the molecular form has an incomplete number of electrons. Nascent iodine is also paramagnetic. This simply means that nascent iodine atoms can hold an electromagnetic charge, allowing for a huge release of energy after liquid iodine is consumed. When nascent iodine enters your body in this charged state, it is recognized by the thyroid and absorbed immediately.

There’s more. Nascent iodine is most powerful when taken in the liquid form with its partner ionic selenium. Selenium is another valuable mineral we are just not getting enough of, and selenium is also needed to activate iodine in the body. Your body does not naturally produce selenium, so you need a selenium cofactor whenever you take nascent iodine.

Take these two nutrients together, and iodine’s effect on the body is almost unstoppable. You will not find this kind of nutritional support from our depleted food supply and especially not from junk table salt.

Sources
1. “Micronutrient Deficiencies.” WHO.
2. “Iodine deficiency in Europe: A continuing public health problem.” World Health Organization, UNICEF.
3. American Thyroid Association. “Iodine daily serving now recommended in multivitamin/ mineral supplements for pregnant and lactating women.” ScienceDaily.
4. Natural Medicine Journal. June 2014 Vol. 6 Issue 6.
5. Environ. Sci. Technol., 2008, 42 (4), pp 1315–1323. DOI: 10.1021/es0719071.