The topic of iodine supplementation for your overall health has been growing the past few years among patients, especially in light that many of us may be low in iodine, or just the fact that iodine has anti-cancer qualities. I became interested in the topic after reading Dr. David Derry’s book Breast Cancer and Iodine. I’ve also seen the testimony of several women with Fibrocystic Breast Disease who saw it disappear once they started iodine supplementation. Impressive!
And since thyroid hormones are primarily composed of iodine, thyroid patients are listening to and questioning the use of iodine supplementation. Yahoo Groups has an excellent iodine group now led by Stephanie, where you can ask questions and decide for yourself. Also, if you google “iodine”, you’ll find much to read.
But thyroid patient Mike Lawson came up with some very interesting facts this week about iodine in desiccated thyroid – just one more reason to consider using Armour, Naturethroid, Westhroid or other desiccated thyroid products! He figured out the below:
T3 = C15H12I3NO4 = molar mass of 650.9776
T4 = C15H11I4NO4 = molar mass of 776.87
Iodine has a molar mass of 126.90
Iodine content of T3 = (3 * 126.9)/650.9776. T3 is 59.725 % iodine.
Iodine content of T4 = (4 * 126.9)/776.87. T4 is 65.339 % iodine.
Armour has 38 mcg T4 & 9 mcg T3.
.65339 * 38 mcg = 24.828 mcg iodine
.59725 * 9 mcg = 5.37525mcg iodine
So, each grain of Armour has 30.20325 mcg iodine. In other words, each
grain of Armour has 1/5 the RDA of iodine (150 mcg).
Very interesting facts, Mike! Sure, some thyroid patients feel they need more than what desiccated thyroid offers. But it’s a good start when so many individuals feel their own iodine levels are too low, and need help, especially those who have had to deal with thyroid or breast cancer, or have a family history of it.
ibeji said:
Oct 17, 08 at 6:24 amBeware that (at least in Europe), taking iodine supplements is strongly advised against when you have an auto-immune thyroid condition, no matter whether you’re hypo– or hyperthyroid (Hashimoto or Graves’), because taking iodine may spur the functioning of the thyroid, which — it is believed — increases the activity of the immune system in its attacks against the thyroid.
Moreover, there is a strong movement in Europe (or at least, in Germany) against the (excessive) compulsory supplementation with iodine in foodstuff. Since even animal food is enriched with iodine, it has been reported that a single liter of milk may contain a thousand times the recommended daily dose of iodine.
Since iodine supplements are added everywhere (especially in salt), all basic foods like for instance bread contain enormous amounts of iodine.
Or take sausages for example: the meat comes from animals fed with iodine supplements, the salt is supplemented with iodine, and the spices are, too.
The total iodine consumption has been shown to be many times the recommended daily dose, on average.
What is worse, many thyroid patients report that they feel much worse when they consume even trace amounts of iodine.
Imagine how difficult it is for them to avoid iodine, when it is omnipresent in all foods!
There is almost nothing left they can eat!
There are however people who do not feel any difference with iodine, or at least who were not able to discern any effect related to it, myself included.
In my case this may be due to the iodine supplementation not being enforced as extremely in the country where I live (well in the European Union, but not Germany).
Nevertheless I wanted to urge you to be careful, and to listen carefully to your body, what does him good and what does not.
Take care!
ibeji said:
Oct 20, 08 at 8:44 amBy the way, just in order to avoid possible misunderstandings; I was talking about INORGANIC iodine above, that is, iodine ions in iodine salts.
Remember that table salt is composed of the ion of a metal, sodium (Na+), and the ion of a so-called halogen (“salt-former”, in Latin!), chlorine (Cl-). Iodine is another member of the halogens, and can form salts with metal ions as well.
This is what I was talking about in my previous post — NOT about the ORGANIC iodine, that is, iodine in organic compounds, such as in thyroxine (T4) and thyronine (T3), as for instance contained in Synthroid or Armour Thyroid.
The effects described in my previous posting above DO NOT apply to thyroid hormones, ONLY to inorganic iodine!
Debbie MacDonald said:
Apr 07, 09 at 11:28 amI’m confused…isn’t that the goal to spur the functioning of the Thyroid? What if we are iodine difficient? And alot of us are…we need iodine!!
Natalie said:
Apr 17, 09 at 7:11 pmWell Dr.Mercola addresses the connection between the Thyroid gland and the Iodine. Yes it is in many foods but that does not mean it is the correct type of iodine. As Iodine can be absorbed in the body even just through the skin. I always advise being careful in the matter of iodine as it can often be a double edge sword important to check your levels and do what is best on an individual basis. I will say personally that through the struggle of a persistent undiagnosed under active thyroid had I been getting the iodine I need from such food with all the iodine in it I question if this problem would have arose? It’s hard to tell as the iodine I use now is a high quality supplement and because I now eat very well my body is tolerating and becoming healthy and strong. I also take a desiccated thyroid product so everything is better!
Carol said:
Aug 02, 09 at 7:06 amIt is my understanding that in the US, only table salt is iodized, that the salt used in manufacturing commercial products (bread, etc) is not. The idea was to get a minimum of iodine in everyone’s diet to prevent goiter.