Today I’m going to talk about why most people are iodine deficient. As you learned in the previous post, most people do need iodine supplementation. However, I feel it is important to understand why people are deficient, so that they can avoid those factors that have led to this deficiency in the first place.
For example, when I spoke about Vitamin D deficiency in a previous post, I explained that a big reason why most people are deficient in Vitamin D is because they avoid the sun, or constantly put on sunscreen when they are in the sun. With regards to getting enough iodine, it’s not as “simple” as getting sun exposure, as this is not a mineral that your body manufacturers.
Dr. David Brownstein, author of the book “Iodine, Why You Need It, Why You Can’t Live Without It”, states that “Approximately 1.5 billion people, about one-third of the earth’s population, live in an area of iodine deficiency as defined by the World Health Organization”. And even though iodine is added to the salt supply, which can help prevent conditions such as goiter, it is inadequate to prevent an iodine deficiency.
In his book, Dr. Brownstein talks about three main reasons behind the iodine deficiency:
1) Due to poor farming techniques, deficiencies of iodine and other minerals in the soil have increased. So crops grown in iodine-deficient soil will be deficient in iodine.
2) Exposure to certain chemicals that inhibit iodine binding in the body (bromide, fluoride, chloride) – bromine replaced iodine in the baking industry as a dough conditioner. Bromine can also bind to iodine receptors in the breast and is a known carcinogen to the breast.
3) Percholate contamination of our water supply: excess percholate levels can also displace iodine and damage the transport of iodine into the cell.
Dr. Brownstein has tested iodine levels in nearly 5,000 individuals. Approximately 96% of his patients test low for iodine. Other doctors he knows have tested over 30,000 people (Dr. Jorge Flechas and Charles Hakala), and their results are consistent with his.
As for how much iodine you should take, he mentions that “The required daily intake of iodine necessary for maintaining iodine sufficiency for the whole body is at least 13mg per day”. However, for someone who is iodine deficient, they may need more than this, and he says that some people with an iodine deficiency may need up to 50mg of iodine daily.
I realize I’ve spoken a great deal about iodine deficiency in recent posts and how it can cause the development of an autoimmune thyroid disorder. While you can expect me to discuss more about iodine in the future, I promise I’ll move onto other topics next week. I just wanted you to understand how important iodine is, and when I use two or more posts to discuss a certain topic, such as a deficiency of iodine or Vitamin D, I hope you realize I’m doing this because I feel it is extremely important information that is essential to restore your health back to normal.
Because while there are many different factors that can cause Graves’ Disease and Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis, correcting certain nutritional deficiencies plays a big role in the recovery process. And once you overcome such deficiencies, it’s important to regularly monitor these levels (at least once or twice a year) and do what you can to maintain sufficient levels of these nutrients.
So I’ll conclude this post by reminding you to get an iodine loading test (visit www.hakalalabs.com [1]), and if it is determined that you are iodine deficient, do what is necessary to correct this deficiency.