Iodine Supplements And Why You Should Take Them

Iodine is such a vital part of having a fully functioning hormonal system that it amazes me that we do not hear more about iodine supplements. Maybe if there was as much money to be made as prescription drugs then it might be more popularly prescribed than Prozac for depression, or Synthroid for hypothyroid conditions.

It was about six months ago…

when I read about iodine and the possibility that we are, as a population, suffering from a low grade deficiency of iodine. Not enough to present lots of cases of goitre but enough of a deficiency to maybe explain many cases of detected and undetected hypothyroidism.

What Does Iodine Do And Can Iodine Supplements Help?

Iodine plays a vital role in the function of the thyroid gland in the creation of the hormones T3 and T4, which regulate your metabolism.

The two main forms are iodine and iodides. Generally speaking, iodine compounds affect the role of estrogen in breast tissue. Iodides, have more of an effect on the thyroid.

Dr. David Brownstein is a crusader for iodine and seems to have joined the dots when it comes to explaining its role in the disease states that he sees across populations and within his practice. He is a great educator on the role of iodine in basic physical functions, including detoxification of environmental and radiation pollution. He points out that without adequate iodine the body is open to emotional disorders, malfunctioning glandular systems, and weight gain due to hormonal imbalance. Dr. David Brownstein also believes that iodine deficiency may be linked to breast, ovarian, uterus and prostate cancers.

Although Dr Brownstein, Dr Donald Miller and many other doctors see iodine as a major issue affecting our health it doesn’t seem to have gone mainstream enough given the seriousness of the issue.

My take on this is that there is an insufficient intake of iodine in today’s diet that has led to a largely undiagnosed chronic form of low-grade hypothyroidism, a major contributing factor to breast and ovarian cancers. Low thyroid function often goes hand in hand with low adrenal function and ultimately adrenal fatigue. You see this as symptoms like fatigue, low energy, low body temperature, low blood pressure, dry skin, depression, weight gain and sensitivity to the cold in the hands and feet.

There are various ways to supplement your iodine such as lugols solution and kelp.

So I started taking powdered kelp…

a few months ago to see what effect it would have. I chose this way of increasing iodine because it’s more natural and because the other vitamins, minerals and other substances in kelp would probably do me good as well. Within a week or two I noticed that my metabolism seemed to rise very slightly. My feet were definitely warmer than I can ever recall, which is probably a good thing because they felt more comfortable for one thing.

One entertaining effect…

was that my dreams were much much more frequent, longer and more vivid. I had forgotten that I had read about this as well but this result was amazing. My guess is that this is a positive sign of a better quality of sleep.

There haven’t been any downsides or side effects yet so I am guessing that from here on in I am staying with the kelp.

Let me warn you that kelp is one of the least tastiest foods on earth, in which case you may want to try lugols solution or nascent iodine if iodine supplements are something that you are interested in.

Cheers,

Lewis

Tagged as: Dr Donald Miller, energy, hypothyroid, iodine, iodine supplements, kelp, lugols iodine, Weight Loss