Archive for the ‘Iodine’ Category

If you’re over 60 years of age you may remember people with goiters. This was an enlargement of the thyroid gland and as many as one-third of the population were affected. Sometimes they grew so large and grotesque that it would compress the trachea necessitating surgical removal.

In 1916 a family doctor showed the relationship between the goiter and iodine. He conducted an experiment on schoolgirls. Dr. David Marine gave a very large dose of iodine for 10 days and repeated this every 6 months for two-and-a-half years. Of the 900 girls with normal thyroids who received the iodine supplements, virtually none developed goiters while 28 percent of the control group who were not given iodine.

So in 1924 the FDA introduced a voluntary program for adding iodine to table salt.

From the 1950s to the 1970s with Americans liberally using salt the iodine deficiency ended.

Now with the liberal use of salt came the increased blood pressure and hypertension.

Then with the decrease of use of iodized salt the National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys (NHANES) saw a 50 percent reduction in iodine levels and a quadrupling of iodine deficiency between 1971 and 1994.

A problem with iodized salt is that the iodine disappears in about four weeks from the salt. The FDA recommends 150 mcg per day but the jury is still out on how much we need. Kelp is one source of iodine. Dr. William Davis recommends his patients take 500-1000 mcg per day.

This is why it is so important for all of us to take a closer look at our health.

For the complete story go to the October 2009 issue of Life Extension www.lef.org