Hi there, Iodine is an essential element normally contained in seafood (seaweed etc and to a certain extent foods if the soil happens to contain adequate amounts). Dairy food too, IF the cattle are being exposed to enough iodine. However, unfortunately this essential nutrient is mostly lacking in our soils. The asians get a lot of iodine through their high intake of seafood, seaweed. And other areas do too due to adequate iodine in soil. Unfortunately the western world isn't so hot on the iodine front. Unless of course they are consuming iodized table salt. They added iodine to table salt because the lack of iodine was showing up as a swelling of the throat (Goiter). The addition of iodine to salt appears to have been highly effective against goiter. However, this does not mean a person's intake of iodine is necessary adequate for their needs, particularly if they are exposed/toxic with mercury. mercury has an affinity for the thyroid and other areas and blocks the function of iodine and displaces it. This is why it is a good idea to supplement the elements mercury likes to compete with and displace and minerals like magnesium and zinc and selenium are some more that are wise to supplement with.
Unfortunately, tablet salt has other undesirables like anti-caking agents, bleaching, aluminium, and has many of the natural occuring minerals removed apparently, so though the benefit to using it due to iodine maybe lessened due to the other undesirables.
So perhaps the better way to get more iodine is to use a good healthy salt alternative like celtic sea salt with 84 naturally occuring minerals which have not been removed and then supplement extra iodine yourself with an iodine containing supplement like kelp (make sure it's a brand certifying tested and free of contaminants), or lugol's iodine, iodol, etc. Whatever works best for you. So there are certainly ways to supplement it and make sure you get enough eachday. It is also wise to start iodine slowly and build up to tolerance, because you can get quite dramatic detox symptoms if starting a bit too high too soon for you personally. Depends how many toxins you're storing and how well your body's elimination pathways are functioning.
I now consider this nutrient absolutely essential and I don't know WHY I never saw the truth about it before. Doses vary for each person, but there is a limit to where you can get excessive iodine too. So it's wise to stick to an amount that is generally accepted as recommended, before raising it a bit further to gain more therapeutic effects.
Sea salt does NOT contain enough iodine for daily needs. Please believe me, I've been there and I gave up my iodised table salt because I thought I was doing the healthy thing and substituted with redmonds real salt, which IS a healthy salt. BUT, the problem is, I did not recognise the requirement for iodine and the loss of the iodine I had been getting from iodised table salt was enough to make matters much worse over time without me being away of what was happening. I believe this then caused other minerals in my body to decline as well, because it tends to cause a dominoe effect. So my blood tests were pretty atrocious this time around. Low thyroid function and severely low on iodine, magnesium and zinc. So much for my sea salt! And the irony of this is, lack of iodine can wind up causing all kinds of problems in the body that no amount of sea salt additions were going to help!
Supplementing with a multi which contained iodine was helpful to me, as were the additions of selenium, zinc, magnesium, vitamin E etc. But I felt I needed a bit extra and used lugol's iodine. I have a highly diluted form of lugol's though, so I only get about 250 mcg a drop. However, when I took 4 drops of it, per my doctor's advice. My detox symptoms went through the roof and I had to stop using it until symptoms calmed down. Now i have to watch it and just take a drop or two when I can handle it. The dose is still pretty small considering what other people might use, but my body cannot cope with too much right now, as I am too toxic and it just forces me to excrete more toxins/metals than I can handle.
Iodine seems to be effective against toxins of all kinds, pathogens/infections, metals (aluminium, mercury, lead, etc). I have no doubts it causes a detox of these things, I've felt it and experienced it. So yes it does occur. It also provides more protection against infection too and any toxic exposure. Not just an aid to rid you of them, but a preventative measure to protect you, so that they'll be enough iodine in you that should be there, so that other toxins cannot sit in the areas where iodine should be.
Please click on these two links and read the articles.
http://www.alkalizeforhealth.net/Liodine.htm http://www.alkalizeforhealth.net/Liodine2.htmPlus this one too -
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1594/is_5_12/ai_77749311Lack of iodine can also cause adrenal problems, because it's more stress on the body. Though too much iodine can overstimulate and also strain adrenals, which are trying to keep up. So you can see, you need enough of it, but not an amount that's too much too soon. Rather pace yourself.
Kelp by the way is apparently beneficial to the entire glandular system (including adrenals) as is celtic sea salt. An adrenal fatigue book I has actually recommends a mix of celtic sea salt and kelp. Some don't like kelp because they think it has contaminants and should be avoided and rather someone should just use the celtic sea salt and an iodine supplement like lugol's or something. it really is a bit of a controversial topic, just like mercury!
