After attending a recent naturopathic seminar devoted to advances in our understanding of the thyroid, I became aware of some important resources for my patients and friends. There are now better methods to test a person’s nutrient status for iodine and the metabolism of their thyroid gland.
We have become appreciative of whole thyroid supplementation for many situations, and the Lugol’s Solution form of iodine supplementation again for many purposes, including family protection from some forms of radioactive fallout.
Unfortunately, in both of these situations, iodine status and thyroid function are quite complex, involving a person’s unique, changing physiology and their environmental and dietary realities. Thus far, many doctors including myself have had to “guesstimate” these dose ranges because laboratory analysis has been inconvenient, expensive, and not very accurate. Patients avoid these stresses, especially in the current economic climate. This makes accurate monitoring difficult.
Since these wonderful natural medicines are powerful and economical, we are increasingly aware that they can be overused and also cause stress or difficulty to the body we are trying to help.
There is now available a home test kit called the Comprehensive Iodine Thyroid Profile that takes two dried urine samples and a blood spot sample to more accurately tune in to the thyroid metabolism and need for supplemental iodine. This test is more convenient and useful in terms of the information it provides to the doctor. The expense is still high, but it bypasses the cost of a doctor’s visit or two, thus saving you money and time. Read about it and decide if your personal health condition would suggest a need for closer understanding of these important issues.
I have a question: Lugol’s iodine is recommended as part of a protocol for “Traveling in Japan,” and to be honest, we have some at home that is 7% rather than 5% but I felt it would be easier to take the recommended dose if I got your iodine. I have read up on iodine online but found the differing opinions confusing. Plus, I became worried about taking too much, although people like Mark Sircus (whose magnesium book we have) seem to think its okay to take a lot.
I’ve never had my thyroid checked (though I think that the body temperature test you can do yourself sounds best, as even if you are just slightly off the ideal temperature then it seems your thyroid is an issue). I suspect I may have an underactive thyroid, as I have cold hands and feet quite a bit; I’m slim, though. It concerned me that some people seem to think that if your thyroid is normal, taking too much iodine can create a thyroid issue when before there was none! Surely, though, if you have an underactive thyroid then iodine (of the right type) can only be beneficial.
Lastly, I think you may sell it too, but my partner is keen to use nascent atomic iodine while in Japan. He seems to think its superior to Lugol’s iodine. I said to him that it probably would have been recommended on your NaturoDoc Blog in that case.
I wonder whether you can clarify any of the above? I apologize in advance that although I’m sure you are very knowledgeable, I appreciate that this may/may not be your role to answer the kind of questions I’m asking. Also, if I seem a bit inconsistent it is in part that I have a brain injury from when I was young, and as a consequence I tend to get hung up on details plus other difficulties in completing tasks. Also, the more I’ve read about radiation–the stuff they don’t print in newspapers–the more alarming facts I’ve uncovered. I’m actually going to Japan, as my partner was invited by a Reiki institute in Kyoto to spend some time there.
This is a current YouTube video describing elevated radiation levels in US drinking water and milk as of April 10, 2011.
Following is a letter from me to a church group departing for a tour of Japan next month. This advice would be appropriate for anyone traveling to Japan at this time.
The past several months have been difficult for much of the world. With weather, health, and economic challenges, it has been a tough winter. As difficult as we might have had it, the disaster in Japan has shocked the world with the intensity of suffering and number of lives lost among those kind and elegant people. And beyond that, the biological disaster will affect our planet for years to come.
This letter is to suggest some supplemental and hygienic protections for those who will be visiting Japan in the near future. They are suggestions that will be good to consider on a more limited basis for those of us elsewhere as well, as the radioactive contamination continues far beyond the borders of Japan. Low-dose radioactivity affects everything living thing in some way, and usually in a bad way.
The most dangerous isotopes affecting us in our food and water are iodine, cesium, uranium, and plutonium. There are others that either have short half-lives or which are bound to less metabolically active metals, so it’s easier to avoid them and keep them out of our bodies. The more dangerous ones are perceived by our bodies as slightly disguised versions of normal minerals that are important to maintain good health, and the body will take them up, especially if it is deficient in that mineral.
The supplements I suggest here will nourish your body with the minerals that radioactive isotopes “imitate.” If these good minerals are at optimal levels before exposure, it will be easier for the immune system and digestion to refrain from absorbing into the body the bad isotopes that imitate them.
Iodine nourishes and protects the body from radioactive isotopes of iodine. Since cesium imitates potassium, uranium imitates chromium, and plutonium imitates iron, it would be a good preventative measure to nourish the body in advance with potassium, chromium, and iron. Of course, radioactivity of any type will cause death if it is too intense, but nutritional protection will help prevent the body from taking up low-level environmental exposures to these radioactive isotopes that are known to be coming our way from Japan.
For those traveling to Japan, I would encourage you to prepare by taking the following supplements before, during, and after the trip:
SuperSulfur is a crystalline form of MSM, which is so good for the muscles and joints. This dissolves immediately in a small amount of hot water, and then you can dilute it with any liquid of choice to cut the natural bitterness of the SuperSulfur. Coffee or grapefruit juice cloak it well. This form of bioavailable sulfur has been found to improve the ability of tissue cells to absorb good nutrients and quench free-radical damage. In addition to internal protection, the sulfur helps to eliminate natural and environmental toxins. This latter group includes radioactive isotopes that generate the free-radical damages within the cell.
The Organic Greens and Reds is a concentrated extract of whole fruits and vegetables. Stir 1-2 tablespoons into juice or a fruit smoothie and drink that every morning with breakfast. The nutrients in this concentrate will provide a broad range of protective antioxidants, bioflavonoids, and minerals in a bioavailable form. This broad range of concentrated nutritional support helps these other single-nutrient medicines cover a more digestively normal range of effects. This tastes pretty good. These supplements would not be as important if you already eat a lot of fresh organic produce and regularly juice fresh fruit and vegetables. Most of us would like to do that, but somehow lack the housekeeping and service staff to keep it going.
Lugol’s Iodine Solution (5%) is one of several iodine sources available, but it is the most reliable and affordable form we know of. If drops of a colorful liquid are too fussy to deal with, you can get it as tablets called Iodoral. Read up on dosing and testing procedures.
As a starting dose for those unfamiliar with iodine, take 2 drops of Lugol’s Iodine in water or beverages twice a day. This will approximate 24 milligrams of elemental iodine daily. Build up with an extra drop per dose every couple of weeks so that when you are traveling in Japan, take about 4 drops twice a day for a total of about 50 milligrams daily.
If you experience any problems from this such as muscle aches or rashes, cut the amount in half and persist. If you are both iodine-deficient and halogen-toxic (too much chlorine, fluorine, or bromine in your system), you could have an unpleasant cleansing reaction if you take too much. There’s no need to be uncomfortable, just dose it lower and slower for a while.
Modifilan is a concentrated, dried extract of the brown seaweed, Kombu (Laminaria japonica). It has a fascinating story that dates back to the Chernobyl nuclear reactor accident. We have had years of experience and amazing reports from clients who use it regularly to remove heavy metals, radiation, and strengthen their thyroid and digestion. Read up on it and decide if you want to include it in your arsenal. I recommend that you do so. Before travel, take 1 capsule with major meals three times a day. While in Japan, take 2 capsules after each meal, always with a slowly swallowed full glass of water.
These four items will protect and strengthen someone in a radioactively polluted environment.
Finally, be aware that most of the risky exposure is airborne or carried on surfaces you might touch. Be up on your hygiene and cleanliness. Take a zip-lock bag with a soapy wet washcloth in your travel bag or purse. After you touch public surfaces like handles, doors, or counters, take a moment and wash your hands. At the end of the day, clean and refresh the washcloth for the next day. You will have access to stores and markets there. Get containers of baking soda or Epsom salt, and every two or three days take a hot bath with about 3 cups of baking soda for a long hot soak. This will help to alkalize your skin and draw out toxins. It also just feels good and relaxing.
As for dietary advice, you all have advisors and opinions galore. Basic concepts are that you should not stress out and weaken your digestion by eating too much, and avoid the foods that have little or no nutritional value. Traditional Japanese cuisine will be wonderful. For the wine lovers, go slow on that, because wines are loaded with fluorides and sulfides, and alcohol exhausts the adrenal glands and pancreatic functions. Excess sugar and pastry sweets will also ruin your digestion and energy level. You’ll enjoy your travel and your body more if you keep the diet light and stay active.
Some of the products I have recommended have become scarce and are hard to find, while my company, NaturoDoc, has them all in stock. Here are Internet links to the website and blog for more detailed information.
You can get these products online from the NaturoDoc Store, or you can order by phone from the U.S. and Canada by calling 1-877-867-4743.
My suggestions to products that we sell on NaturoDoc.com are to inform you about them. I encourage market comparison out there with anything of like quality you have access to.
As we know, radioactive isotopes have been emitted from the three Fukushima reactor meltdowns occurring in Japan. These have frightened everyone paying attention for several weeks. But now the public attention span has moved away from this issue and on to other pressing concerns. It is a worsening biological disaster that will continue for months or years. Radioactive exposure will not become safer by not being paid attention to.
A website called Information Is Beautiful has come up with a useful chart to help visualize radiation exposure.
In charts of isotope dispersal in wind and weather, the most graphic and worrisome appears to be Xenon-133. This isotope is bound to an inert gas that is not very metabolically active, and it has a half life of about 5 days, so upon further study, I would conclude that the health impact for us is minimal.
Government sources are warning that since potassium iodide is in very short supply and will not protect you from radiation, you should not take it. Several points here deserve clarification:
1. “Potassium iodide will not protect you from radiation.” This is dose-related and certainly true for short-term, high-level radiation exposure. Nutritional biochemicals are helpful and important in correspondingly deficient people, but it obviously isn’t a lead shield or a bomb shelter.
2. Potassium iodide occurs naturally in living things that are high in elemental iodine as well. It’s found primarily in seafood and sea vegetables (seaweeds), so it easily absorbs and helps your human digestive system. If your diet is low in iodine-rich foods, your body is low in it too. If you are deficient, you will be vulnerable to a rapid uptake of radioactive iodine when it’s nearby.
If you are one of the few populations who have a high level of on-board iodine from many years of dietary and supplemental intake, you would not need as much iodine supplementation to protect from radioactive iodine. For that small population, many of whom are Japanese, by the way, supplemental iodine in the form of Lugol’s Solution or concentrated seaweed products is not necessary for protection from low-level exposure.
3. Supplements of potassium iodide are easy to produce, inexpensive, and should have been available as a general public health policy for decades due to our infatuation with nuclear power and weaponry. The shortage is no reason to tell you it’s not needed. Actually, the potassium sources we need are proving to be important for protection from the more serious effects of cesium, uranium, and plutonium isotopes that are being released closer to Japan.
The better method of supplementing is by taking either Lugol’s Iodine, Nascent Iodine, or a tableted version of potassium iodide called Iodoral. These are presently available and affordable.
Consider either testing your body load using various methods described online, or simply paint it on your skin in a two-inch circle and notice how long it takes your body to absorb it. If it takes only a couple of hours, your body is “thirsty” for it and you should build up to about 40-60 mg. daily in your foods or liquids. If it takes 12-24 hours for your body to absorb it, go with about half that amount daily.
It would be nice to offer scientific evidence for the exact amounts of this that you need, but your living body is unique and the requirements vary for each of us. Start slowly with any strong medicine or nutrient, and notice how your body responds to it.
The better way to normalize both iodine and potassium levels is to eat the real plant foods that supply these nutrients. For many reasons written about here, we advocate the use of Modifilan or SuperKombu. Both are a pure dried extract of the seaweed Kombu (Laminaria japonica) which has proven to be effective and protective back in 1987 during the Chernoble nuclear disaster in the Ukraine. This particular strain of brown seaweed helps with reducing both radioactive exposure and general heavy metal toxicity.
So yes, don’t expect the single-chemical potassium iodide to accomplish all the protection of an optimal level of iodine and potassium in the body. Start now to build up levels with supplemental forms while adding food concentrate sources to your diet.
Please also keep up on sensible hygiene and environmental awareness to avoid or limit risk. These nuclear fallout concerns are becoming eclipsed by the releases of polluted seawater which threaten more of our world’s food supply.
Radiation from a nuclear meltdown is coming our way via the jet stream from Japan. You can prepare yourself and your loved ones by taking 10 drops of Lugol’s Iodine daily. Nascent Iodine or Iodoral tablets work well too; just start getting potassium iodide and iodine into your body as soon as possible. Taking around 50 mg per day (10 drops) of the Lugol’s Iodine for a few weeks will be protective.
Today, the 13th of March, 2011, we are hearing that nuclear debris is being pushed into the atmosphere from reactor explosions in Japan. Our thoughts and prayers fly to the suffering and kind people of Japan. Japan seems far away for most Americans, but we share the same atmosphere and effects of whatever is in it.
Nuclear Fallout Map
Maps indicate a path of fallout hitting the Western U.S. around March 20th. The specifics of how much, how dangerous, what will happen when, and such are unknown. No units of time measurement for this exposure are provided, and specific amounts of released radiation are not verified.
Still, I suggest we adhere to the Scout motto, “Be Prepared.” Hope for the best, and plan for the worst.
The cheapest and easiest thing to do for most of us now is to protect our thyroid and adrenal glands by aggressively supplementing iodine, and protecting our food and water from airborne particles. Probably the cheapest and most reliable iodine is Lugol’s Iodine solution. A tablet version that has the same ratio of elemental iodine and potassium iodide is called Iodoral.
This material is safe and has benefits to offer beyond the range of nutritional replacement. We call these medicines “nutraceuticals.” About 2 drops of Lugol’s represents nearly 13 mg of iodine. This is approximately what the Okinawans who maintain traditional diets take in daily. Okinawans were a population studied after World War II that was found to have minimal symptoms of radiation poisoning while having the highest levels of tissue iodine. Surviving excess radiation exposure is what many of us will soon become interested in as the jet stream from Japan approaches.
To safely benefit from iodine’s protective effects, I recommend that adults consider taking 3-4 times the normal maintenance dose, like 40-48 mg daily for a couple months, based upon a 180-pound adult body. Then take a break for a couple weeks and compare how you feel. Repeat as advised by your natural healthcare professional.
NaturoDoc offers one-ounce bottles of Lugol’s Iodine, which is taken internally in water. Lugol’s Iodine is also used for water purification and to boost the immunity against viral, fungal, and bacterial infections. It also helps to balance hormone levels, and has long been used as a topical antiseptic for wounds, so its usefulness for home health cannot be overstated. Read the free information about what it is and why I recommend you take it internally over the next several months.
Another way to protect the body from toxic heavy metals and the uptake of radioactive elements into the thyroid is the regular ingestion of a seaweed from the North Pacific called Kombu, or Laminaria japonica. If you have access to this and like the taste, then it would be the best whole form as a food. Our product of a dried concentrated extract of Laminaria capsules is Modifilan. Taking 2 of these capsules a day will also provide many protective benefits.
Seaweed is noted for its ability to bind heavy metals and radioactive pollutants. Kelp inhibits the absorption of lead, cadmium, and radioactive strontium (one of the most hazardous pollutants). 80 to 90 percent of radioisotopes of Strontium 90 can be removed from the intestinal tract in the presence of seaweed. Sodium alginates actually chelate the remaining amount out of the bone structure. So much Strontium 90 has been released by nuclear explosions, power plants, and nuclear weapons facilities that it is believed that every person has detectable levels in their bone tissue. Many cancers are attributable to this contamination.
This seaweed is available in different forms and price ranges. Our product is from a pristine source put into the most convenient form. Choose what works best for you and your family. Beyond those two products, work with those knowledgeable about organic food, and with the environmentally green technologies of water and air filtration that are increasingly available today.
For those who have already suffered a toxic dose of radiation, NaturoDoc is offering three groups of natural products for radiation detox. Click here to purchase.
These ideas will help you prepare for and avoid the negative consequences of this latest nuclear tragedy. Please keep your searching efforts up and share what you find to be the most effective steps for everyone you know. Your own preparedness will be a gift to our Japanese friends who surely want to minimize the damage to our earth, and our society.
