What Started our Health Epidemic in the 70s? Iodine Deficiency - Iodized Salt is Ineffective

Your doctor may not know about iodine deficiency. Medical students are taught that American's get plenty of iodine in their diet, mainly from iodized table salt. But the truth is that American's are very deficient in iodine. Maybe not enough to cause cretinism, a severe birth deformity, but enough to cause the autism epidemic, thyroid and obesity problems, and a long list of auto-immune disorders by leaving us with unpurified blood (suggested reading).

Starting in 1920, the FDA encouraged bread makers to add iodine to their recipes to combat a severe goiter problem in the U.S. After supplementation started, the average American got about 1mg of iodine daily. Most other countries also supplemented their breads with iodine. In 1963 the World Health Organization decided that we were getting too much iodine and discourage bread supplementation through fear tactics. By the mid 1970s, bread makers had stopped supplementing and our health epidemic was under way. (As of early 2010 some countries, including Australia, are putting iodine back into bread supplementation.)

Since then we don't get enough iodine. We also don't get enough iodine from iodized table salt. The chloride in the salt, along with bromide and fluoride in our diet and water, competes with iodine for the same receptor sites in the body, where they do nothing except use up valuable real estate. These sister minerals expel iodine from the body.

THYROID

80% of the iodine in your body is in the thyroid gland which is in the neck and is connected to the jugular veins. Iodine has many roles in the thyroid gland. All the blood in your body goes through your thyroid every 17 minutes where the iodine will detox heavy metals, kill pathogens, and activate the thyroxine hormone which stimulates metabolism. Iodine also plays a role in binding with synthetic molecules which enables your body to identify them as trash and expel them. Otherwise, these molecules will mimic estrogen and create endocrine gland problems or get stored away in adipose fat cells which produce a type of natural estrogen that cannot be detoxed either. These excessive estrogens can block the thyroid receptor sites and be the root cause of low thyroid hormone levels.

PATHOGENS

Without the cleansing affects of iodine, your body can develop intestinal yeast overgrowth and leaky gut syndrome easily when your beneficial bacteria levels have been compromised. This basic auto-immune disorder can cause thousands of symptoms and serious diseases. Doctors treat the symptoms, but the yeast overgrowth, leaky gut syndrome and iodine deficiency is ignored. In fact, these medical conditions are not even taught to students in medical school.

HIV is an example of a pathogen that was killed when we got enough iodine in our diets. By 1980 this virus was no longer being purified out of our blood and started running its course and leaving people with AIDS. Some parts of Africa never supplemented with iodine and suffered from AIDS many years before we did.

HEAVY METALS

The lack of heavy metal cleansing by iodine has lead to mercury toxicity in small children which can result in autism if yeast overgrowth is allowed to happen. Heavy metals influence most neurological disorders. Low thyroid also influences neurological disorders including depression and anxiety. Almost everyone with bi-polar and schizophrenia have low thyroid.

Obesity in America is largely the result of a lack of hormones at work stimulating your metabolism. Without these active hormones, certain metabolic processes do not take place and low metabolism can be the result.

A website by Dr. James Howenstine gives you the basics about the roll of iodine in the thyroid and lists three products and a three-month treatment plan for loading your body with the appropriate mixture of iodine before changing to a normal daily dosage. These products can be purchased on iherb.com and elsewhere on the internet. Another website by Dr. Bruce West is also very informative.

Why don't doctors treat us with iodine therapy? Detoxing and many other therapies are not income producing treatments (no monthly refills) and are not profitable for insurance companies. In fact, they are money-losers. The ideal situation for an insurance company is for their doctors to spend less than 7 minutes on a patient and write 2.5 prescriptions which will result in residual sales for several months after the visit. The monthly refill plan is low maintenance and can be set up for many of our most common symptoms such as depression, anxiety and hyperactivity - all of which would benefit from iodine fulfillment therapy.

Doctors must follow the standard treatment protocols that are outlined by the American Medical Association if they are employed by an insurance company. The AMA gets 80% of its funds from pharmaceutical sales and insurance companies get 50-65% of their funds from pharmaceutical sales.

The republican health care plan would be a great start at diminishing the pharmaceutical monopoly by giving us freedom to choose our own health care coverage and giving the insurance companies the opportunities to compete more for our business, therefore lowering the costs. Many people would choose only accident coverage. When the insurance system shrinks, competition from natural health care can start. Also, doctors will be able to open private clinics outside of the insurance industry and practice the kind of medicine they want to practice without the dictates of the insurance company.

Amazon has one book about iodine titled "Iodine, Why You Need it, Why You Can't Live Without It." Plus there are many books about yeast overgrowth, leaky gut syndrome, and estrogen dominance. It is beneficial to educate yourself, but consulting with a holistic practitioner or nutritionist may be a faster way to success. Maintaining your iodine levels with sea kelp is also a great idea as kelp will provide you with many minerals.

Iodine deficiency is a serious problem and could be the one of the reasons for your medical problems. Iodoral pills, Eidon iodine, and Lugol's iodine are good high-potency products.

Purchase your nutraceuticals at www.iherb.com, iherb.com encourages their customers to leave product reviews which is a great research tool. Browse their huge selection of products and read customer reviews for more insight.

Good luck in your quest for good health. This blog is not to be taken as medical advice.