Iodine, How Much Do You Need?

The answer to how much iodine do you need depends on whom you ask. If you bring this to a medical doctor, he has probably not even heard about it. But until about 100 years ago, iodine was considered the universal medicine, applicable to most ailments. Iodine is really important to your thyroid (called shield gland in other languages) and it not only help regulate your metabolism, but also your immune system, and you defenses against the incoming assaults from the environment.

It is becoming obvious that chronic iodine deficiency is associated with cancer. The topic of Total Body Iodine Sufficiency has been debated in the alternative medical circles. You don’t need the iodine for just your thyroid, but also for your glands prostate in men and breasts-ovaries in women and their resistance to cancer. Iodine deficiency is also associated with low birth weight and low intelligence of babies, premature birth and even miscarriage. All women already pregnant or considering pregnancy should be supplementing with iodine.

Depending on your biological individuality, on the genetic heritage of your ancestors, you may need up to 100 times more than the person next to you. People living on sea shores, including Japan, Ireland, Scotland, Germany, France, Africa, living the fishing lifestyle and fertilizing their vegetable plots with sea weed, adapted to, and now require, a dose of iodine 100 times greater than the RDA, which is high enough not for optimal health, but for preventing goiter, the enlargement of thyroid because of iodine deficiency.

I now realize that, like air and water, we need iodine every day! It is obvious to me that the pharmaceutical industry does not want you to know about iodine. Billions of dollars annually would be saved in this country if people knew about the benefits of the affordable iodine supplements. To keep healthy, most of us need 3-4 capsules of sea weed or 6-8 drops of iodine tincture, every day. To decide for yourself how much iodine do you need, you could do some basic test the most obvious one is to measure and record your base temperature every morning before getting up. If it is below 98.2 deg F, you can safely assume that you need more iodine.