Iodine is a very controversial subject and there seem to be more questions than answers. Why do some Hashimoto’s patients do fine with iodine while others cannot tolerate iodine. Why is just taking desiccated thyroid enough for some and not for others? Research studies pose many questions and provide few answers. Many of these studies lack proper testing of not only iodine before starting the study but also FT3 and RT3 levels, the other hormones of the endocrine system, and supporting vitamin and minerals.
Iodine is also used to treat hyperthyroidism, so the question arises, “How much iodine is too much?”
It has been stated that prior to iodization of table salt, autoimmune thyroiditis was almost nonexistent in the US. But it is also stated that this increase of Hashimoto’s and hypothyroidism itself may be due to environmental toxins and eating goitrogens.
Is the iodine loading test a safe test? For those who have reactions to iodine, the iodine loading test could be harmful. The iodine/iodide loading test is based on the concept that the normally functioning human body has a mechanism to retain ingested iodine until whole body sufficiency for iodine is achieved. However, when dealing with the endocrine system and when one or more glands are not functioning properly the body will not function properly.
The validity of the test depends on the assumption that the average person can absorb at least 90% of a 50-mg dose. It may be that people are failing to excrete 90% of the iodine in the urine not because their tissues are soaking it up, but because a lot of the iodine is coming out in the feces. It is not yet been proven that a 50-mg dose of iodine, which is at least 250 times the Recommended Daily Allowance guidelines set forth in 1968 and regulated by the FDA, can be almost completely absorbed by the average person. While this issue has not apparently been studied in humans, cows fed supraphysiological doses of iodine (72 to 161 mg per day) excreted approximately 50% of the administered dose in the feces.Also it has not been taken in to consideration is the number of people who have absorption issues.
One of the first research studies that Endocrine Awareness Center for Health will be doing is on iodine.