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The Iodine Group | |
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Ford
Iodide/IodineFord L from "The basic program for feeling young and in love", 2006, pp 15-26.
“Iodine is the element that most human diets are most deficient in. Salts of the element Iodine are called “Iodides”. The vast majority of the dietary Iodine we eat is in the form of Iodides. Over 99% of Americans are presently consuming sub-optimal amounts of Iodide. This is because we are presently living in environments very different from the environments our hominid, and early human, ancestors lived in, and adjusted to, for millions of years, and we are eating foods very different from the kinds of foods our ancestors evolved to need. They evolved in semi-marine environments where Iodide was about 100 times more plentiful in their food chain, than it is in the foods we usually eat in America today. In the second volume of this book I will go into more detail about where on Earth our more distant ancestors evolved. The bottom line, however, is that the right amount of dietary Iodide for optimum human health and happiness is about 6- 14 mg, per adult, per day. The best final dosage of Iodide for most men is 8-12 mg. The best final dosage of Iodide for most women is 12 mg per day. About 90-95% of American adults can start right at those high final doses with no health problems.
“Even 1 mg per day, however, is still too high a dosage for about 5-10% of American adults to begin with. It may take months, or even years, for the millions of Americans suffering from more severe thyroid problems and/or “diabetic neuropathy” to get used to eating that much Iodide. This is because as dying peripheral nerves start being revived with more optimal Iodide levels and metabolism, for months or even years, they usually still do not function normally. Instead, they tend to signal to the brain sensations of intense itching and/or phantom pains. To help reduce these very distracting and painful problems, it is more comfortable to start with just ˝ mg of Iodide per day. That is about 3 or 4 times as much Iodine as most Americans are currently getting, but it is still a low enough dosage not to overly aggravate the peripheral itching and pain problems.
“Taking ˝ mg per day is just enough to noticeably speed up metabolism. In many adults with slower metabolism, it also may temporarily (for a few weeks) increase the pulse rate. As I just mentioned, people with long standing hypothyroidism, and/or poorly controlled Type II diabetes, are likely to experience an intensification of any itching they may already be suffering from in their feet, legs, hands, arms, etc. This itching is commonly called “diabetic neuropathy”, but it is usually caused more by hypothyroidism, than by diabetes. Taking Iodide tends to intensify the symptoms (itching and numbness) because in counteracting the hypothyroidism, it also restores more normal nerve metabolism. As more normal metabolism is restored, peripheral nerve cells that had been damaged, or nearly killed, from slow metabolism, start reviving. As they revive, they usually keep functioning abnormally for months or even years, and therefore send increasing amounts of abnormal signals to the brain. Those renewed and intensified signals are often experienced as intense itching and/or pains. The only good thing about this is that it occurs because the nerves are still alive, and are starting to get better. As they recover, the nerves eventually start acting more normally, and the pains and itching gradually go away. Unfortunately, the greater the damage going in, the longer and more painful the recovery.
“Women need more Iodine than men because the female breast concentrates Iodine by converting it from water-dissolved Iodide salts, into the free elemental form, Iodine (I2), which easily dissolves at high concentration in both fat and water, and also bonds much more readily with the proteins of the body, than Iodides do. Since the breasts contain a lot of fat, this increases the concentration of Iodine in them, so that a nursing baby receives a much higher concentration of Iodine in the milk-fat, than he receives of Iodide and Iodine in the water portion of the breast milk.
“Since I2 dissolves so readily in oil, it can also readily pass through the water/oil bi-layers of the cellular membranes of the cells throughout the body, and when it is finally carried by the circulatory system to the kidneys, it can also pass though the bi-layer cellular membranes of the kidney cells much faster than salts, such as Chlorides and Iodides can. Thus it is lost with the urine 5 or 10 times faster than Iodides are lost. Whether or not they are nursing a baby, the breasts of women consume as much Iodide as is available, up to about 6 mg per day, and convert it into elemental Iodine (I2), which if not discharged with breast feeding, diffuses out of the breast tissues, and is lost at high rates with the urine. Breast feeding, or not, women lose a lot more Iodide/Iodine with their urine than men, and need about 5 mg more dietary Iodide per day, than men, just to maintain optimal Iodide levels. That is why Abrams, et al, concluded that the optimal amount of Iodide for an average woman is about 14mg per day. They figured that the optimal amount of Iodide for an average man is only about 8 mg/day. Unfortunately the average American, male or female, is only getting about 140 mcg of Iodine per day. That is about 1/100th of what the average women needs for optimal health, and 1/57th of what the average man needs for optimal health.
“Another thing I should mention about younger women taking Iodide, before they are surprised by it, is that it tends to “normalize” their menstrual cycles…..”
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