Episode 4: This one key deficiency is slowly ruining your health

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Welcome to the 4th and final episode in this mini-series helping you become accountable for your health, because as we've been discussing, no one else can do it for you!

The last episode talked about the increased use of chemicals over the past century, how impossible they are to avoid because they're in the air you breathe, the food you eat, the water you drink and the products you use!
As infuriating as this is, which is a normal response, I can help you do something about it.

We've discussed previously how your cells need essential minerals to make up various detox pathways that protect you from chemicals and even heavy metals. The impact of these chemicals (used in medicine, farming, and even drinking water) is having a devastating affect on one essential element in particular, one that I'm particularly fond of... can you guess it? Drumroll pleeeease....iodine, which you likely didn't know was the universal medicine 120 years ago!

To get straight to the point, iodine deficiency has become a global health crisis, yet nothing is being done about it. You've gotta take matters into your own hands.

Here's the gist: Iodine was discovered in 1811 by a French chemist and within 8 years iodine was being used effectively to treat diseases of the thyroid gland and a wide range of clinical conditions. Iodine was favoured by physicians in many applications, even preferred over antibiotics, which eventually became impossible to avoid as pharmacology took over mainstream medicine.  

We now know iodine's use dates as far back as 15,000 years ago!  

Thanks to the research of a few key medical doctors there's a growing movement of Iodine Literate Practitioners around the world (in both complementary and conventional medicine). But the therapeutic qualities of iodine are no longer taught in medical texts, in fact, we're all taught to be afraid of iodine (known as medical iodo-phobia).  

I won't go into details here, but the removal of iodine from the food supply and medical system over the past 50 years has absolutely impacted your health, and these effects continue to compound.

Let's break it down.  

Iodine is essential for a healthy thyroid gland, which regulates metabolism and energy production. It improves immunity, supports the adrenal glands, protects the breast and prostate, balances hormones, and aids digestion. I have seen results not otherwise achievable in my practice since working deeper with iodine and the necessary companion nutrients.

So it's important to understand that your body needs iodine for healthy breast and prostate tissue, immune function, and brain development.
In fact, every cell, organ, tissue, and gland in your body needs iodine!  

Insufficient iodine is due to factors like modern farming practices that deplete soils, and exposure to environmental toxins that compete with iodine for uptake in the body.  

Iodine deficiency at varying degrees leads to hypothyroidism, goitre (enlarged thyroid), impaired brain development, lower IQ in children, increased risk of glandular cancers, and immune dysfunction.  

In pregnant women, iodine deficiency can lead to miscarriage, stillbirth, and developmental abnormalities.

Iodine deficiency is linked to infertility and hormone imbalances in both men and women.

- A study published in The Lancet found that iodine-deficient mothers had children with an average of 12.5 IQ points lower than those with adequate iodine intake.
- A study in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism found that supplementing with iodine before pregnancy resulted in higher levels of thyroid hormones as well as improved brain development and function in their children (and also had higher IQ than placebo group).but iodine isn't only important in preconception care and pregnancy!
- An Italian study of over 3000 children aged 6-12 showed that the kids that received iodine supplementation had significantly higher IQ scores at the end of the study period than those that didn't. They also performed better at motor function and memory tests.

You can see that it's never too late to reap the rewards! Who doesn't want better brain function?
Now you may be thinking, Erica won't iodized salt save the day?

There are so many myths about iodine, but I'm sharing Dr Brownstein's top 2 iodine myths, unfortunately these myths are propagated by many conventional doctors and naturopaths because they haven't dug deeper into the literature:

Myth No. 1 you get enough iodine in salt
Myth No. 2 supplementing with iodine will cause or worsen thyroid disorders. Number 2 is the main reason most people have the mistaken idea that iodine is a toxic substance that needs to be avoided.

Unfortunately, this is the opinion of most endocrinologists and mainstream doctors.  

Iodized salt is no public health miracle. 
Aside from being heavily processed and void of other trace minerals, it does not supply your body’s total need for iodine, particularly in our toxic environment today, which we discussed in episode 2.  
Iodized salt does prevent goitre in most people, but it fails miserably in providing enough iodine for optimal thyroid function or the rest of your body's organs, cells, tissues, hormones and so on!

The RDI (recommended daily intake) for iodine is devastatingly low at 220mcg per day.
But it's important to know the RDI was set only to prevent goitre (an enlarged thyroid).
 
Research shows that just 10% of iodine in salt is bioavailable—or absorbed by your body. So even if you use iodized salt, you're still only getting between 30-77 mcg a day, which doesn't even satisfy your thyroid's needs and leaves the rest of your body begging for more.

Side note: Iodised salt also loses its potency, meaning by the time it's processed, packaged, shipped, shelved and bought, the iodine content has dropped.

Going back to Myth No. 2. If it were correct, taking iodine will cause thyroid disorders and the declining iodine levels would help prevent thyroid disease. But this has not been the case.  

As iodine levels have dropped over 50% over the past 40 years, thyroid disorders including hypothyroidism, Hashimoto’s, Graves disease, and thyroid cancer have been increasing at near-epidemic rates.

We would expect the opposite to occur—thyroid illnesses on the decline—if iodine were the cause. In fact, it is impossible to experimentally induce autoimmune thyroid disorders in animals unless the animals are iodine-deficient.  

Dr Brownstein goes on to say that after twenty years of practicing medicine it is impossible to treat thyroid illness if there is not enough iodine in the body, including autoimmune thyroid disorders.

Lastly, iodine supplements are not created equal, I've also seen this firsthand in my practice, I had a client with a ganglion wrist cyst that was scheduled to be surgically removed disappear in 2.5 weeks on the appropriate iodine and cofactors.
When he switched formulas it grew back in a month! Quality is variable. Dosage is important. 

Are you surprised to hear that iodine is beneficial for cysts of all kinds, internal and external? It never ceases to amaze me. But then I remember that every cell needs iodine (and the other essential nutrients)!

I wish it were as simple as increasing food sources of iodine. But the highest concentration of dietary iodine is found in seaweed and sea vegetables, however these are not recommended in high amounts since the Fukushima nuclear disaster sent an unprecedented (everyone's favourite word) amount of radiation into the Pacific that was detected around the world.

But, before then, atomic bomb tests and radioactive waste were contaminating the sea — the effects are still being felt today. Our oceans are deeply contaminated with radioactive poisons. (I've popped a link below if you want to go deeper).

This is why kelp supplements are not recommended as a source of iodine.
But there's a silver lining in this, using the right form and dosage of iodine can protect you from radiation exposure and any potential future nuclear accidents... which we won't go into here.

This private podcast series was to make you aware of the main drivers affecting your health today.
You're now aware of:
- the lack of training in medical school
- the onslaught of hidden toxins daily
- how stress burns through minerals
- and the epidemic of iodine and essential nutrient deficiencies

The world of iodine research is fascinating and if you dig deep enough, you'll only need a year or two to start making sense of it all! But if that doesn't appeal to you, I've summarised it quite simply inside Antidote.  

You can certainly go down the rabbit hole of ortho-iodo-supplementation research for yourself, but be warned, you will come across so much conflicting information that you will end up dazed and confused and most likely stuck where no one wants to be... in analysis paralysis.  

The most important thing to realise is that iodine should never be taken on its own. There's a protocol to follow with certain dosages and specific companion nutrients.  

Iodine has been wrongfully vilified in research papers and by clinicians that aren't iodine literate; they do not understand the importance of certain minerals (like selenium, vitamin C, and more) when supplementing with iodine.

So what's your next step? That's up to you! I get that you're busy. Who isn't these days?

That's exactly why I put all of the important iodine research into the Antidote protocol, my simple, effective 3 month solution to boost energy, cognition, mood and stamina.
To make sure you succeed, I even ship the practitioner only products to your door! It takes less than 2 minutes a day to take the supplements and there's around 2 hours of short training videos for you to watch on your own time.

I make it as easy and accessible while giving you the knowledge and the tools to reclaim the energy, clarity and vitality of your youth!

Work with an Iodine Literate Practitioner (like me!) to ensure that you get the best possible outcome from iodine supplementation and companion nutrients.
Thank you so much for being here, I hope this has shed some light on important issues facing us today and has empowered you to take action!
I look forward to welcoming you on the inside. I promise you won't regret it. Bye for now!

https://www.dw.com/en/fukushima-how-the-ocean-became-a-dumping-ground-for-radioactive-waste/a-52710277 https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33723999/  
https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(13)60436-5/fulltext
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41430-021-01006-0
https://www.thelancet.com/journals/landia/article/PIIS2213-8587(15)00212-0/fulltext
https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/768297
https://academic.oup.com/jcem/article/98/5/1954/2536936
https://academic.oup.com/jcem/article/82/9/2840/2865924
https://academic.oup.com/jcem/article-abstract/80/1/258/2650832