Several studies have demonstrated a relationship between low iodine intake and fibrocystic breast disease (FBD) in women as well as in lab animals. While FBD itself is generally benign, researchers recognize it as one symptom of a nutritional imbalance resulting from several possible causes, among them, iodine-deficiency and caffeine stimulation (from coffee, cola intake, etc.). FBD can be both painful and a possible precursor to breast cancer.
Thyroid Gland Requires More than the RDA of Iodine for Maximal Health
The thyroid gland needs iodine for proper functioning, which involves producing thyroxin (thyroid hormone) to drive the body’s metabolism. According to nutritionist Adele Davis, who wrote in the 1960s, the .15 mg RDA of iodine, is minimal for health. She stated that studies by physicians at Harvard had shown children required 1-2 mgs of iodine daily to prevent them from rapidly absorbing toxic radioactive iodine from the air. (Eat Right to Keep Fit, Adele Davis, 1970, 23:184-185;). That research also indicated that adults generally required 3-4 mgs daily for health, an amount virtually non-existent in the American diet today. This is assumed to be due to the large portion of the population following doctor-recommended or self-imposed salt-free diets. This fact alone could be responsible for much of the overweight in the U.S. where thyroid glands starved for iodine cannot maintain normal metabolism (hypothyroidism).
Iodine Helps the Thyroid Program Cancer Cells to Die
Another thyroid function, according to Dr. David Derry M.D., PhD, and author of Breast Cancer and Iodine, is working with iodine to provide the primary trigger mechanism of apoptosis (cell death) for cancer cells. Without proper iodine levels in the body, cancer cells can run amok.
In spite of all the money raised and spent to "fight breast cancer," Dr. Derry notes that breast cancer statistics include unchanged mortality rates since recording began in the 1920s. And although his book was just published in 2001, Dr. Derry even then was aware of the poor prevention statistics resulting from self-exams and other diagnostic methods just recently making the news labeled as ineffective. Derry believes that iodine offers strong protection against both FBD and breast cancer itself.
Iodine Used Safely for About 200 Years
Lugol’s solution, a mix of iodine and potassium iodide (SSKI), has been used since the early 1800s to treat iodine deficiency. Studies done in the early 1900s resulted in the institution of a program to control goiters in teenage girls, using approximately 9 mgs of liquid iodine daily (from Lugol’s solution). This was used safely in medical practice at that time to rectify both hypo- and hyperthyroid conditions.
Doctors recommended iodine supplementation with .1 to .3 mls of Lugol’s Solution containing from 12.5 to 37.5 mgs total iodide (listed in the two volume textbook The Science and Practice of Pharmacy, 1995, as safe and effective in these amounts). The minimum amount of iodine required for control and prevention of goiter is equivalent to 0.1 mg/kg of body weight /day. One pound equals approximately 2.2 kgs, so 135 pounds would equal a fraction over 61 kgs and a requirement for at least 6.1 mgs of iodine daily.
Japanese Women Protected By High Amounts of Dietary Iodine
Scientific evidence connects inadequate dietary iodine with higher instances of breast cancer. Japanese women consume an average of 14 mgs of elemental iodine daily and have the lowest prevalence of breast and reproductive cancers in the world. Adele Davis states that in Japan, thyroid abnormalities do not exist, due to a minimum daily intake of iodine-rich seaweed averaging just 3 mgs daily, but in the normal American diet, it is virtually impossible to even achieve that level. Further, the FDA unexplainably restricts the RDA to a tiny fraction of that. Davis writes “Physicians have often considered 300 milligrams of iodine daily to be a small amount, and as much as 2,400 mgs has been given daily to children for five years with no recognized toxicity.” (ibid. p.185)
Iodine Quietly Removed From Common Access in Food
Over the last three to four decades, iodine was replaced by bromine in the bread-making process. Not only is this thyroid-supporting iodine source unavailable now, but the use of bromine actually blocks thyroid function, thus possibly interfering with the anticancer effects of any other source of iodine on the breasts. Currently the risk for breast cancer is one in eight and increasing 1% per year.
Until the 1960s, one slice of bread made in America contained .15 mgs of iodine (the RDA). At that time, breast cancer risk in the U.S was one in 20 women. Fortunately, according to Larry Essember, Director of Quality and Regulatory Compliance for Joseph's Bakery, one of the largest suppliers of pita bread throughout the United States, "All flour used at Joseph's bakery is unbromated. I believe that the states of Massachusetts and California are among those that do not allow the use of bromate in flour. Flour used in Massachusetts bakeries has been unbromated for about fifteen years. I can assure [you] that our bakery uses only unbromated flour." However, he did not volunteer that their bread dough again contained iodine itself.
In the interest of fighting breast cancer, it’s important to know that "breast cancer awareness" alone is not enough if iodine is lacking in the diet. Access to this important protective element should not be restricted or limited to inappropriately small amounts when used as an additive. If sodium-free (iodized salt-free) diets are mandated, doctors then need to ensure that their patients know to obtain enough dietary iodine from other sources for the health of their thyroid. If the thyroid has been removed, glandular thyroxin can be obtained with a prescription.
Non-prescription desiccated glandulars can be substituted to increase dietary iodine and may also provide natural thyroxin.
References:
Davis, Adele, Eat Right to Keep Fit, 12th printing, Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, NY, 23:184-185; 1970,
Derry, D., Breast Cancer and Iodine, Trafford Publishing, 2001
Abraham, G.E., The Original Internist, 11:17-36, 2004
Essember, Larry, Dir of Q & R Compliance for Joseph's Bakery; email dated Dec 28, 2010
Gennaro, A.R., Editor, Remington: The Science and Practice of Pharmacy, 19th edition (two vols.) Mack Publishing, 1267, 1995 edition
Abraham, G.E., Flechas, J.D., Hakala, J.C., The Original Internist, 90:30-41, 2002
Abraham, G.E., The Original Internist, 11:(2) 29-38, 2004
Abraham, G.E., Townsend Letter for Doctors, 245: 100-101, 2003
Abraham, G.E., Flechas, J.D., Hakala, J.C., The Original Internist, 9:5-20, 2002
Marie Thomas - Marie Thomas (RieT) is an author in multiple genres, with 18 years in technical writing, and freelance work in science, biographical, and ...
