I'll be teaching a master class as part of the Quantum Biology Collective's level 2 certification course called, "Quantum Minerals." I'll also be hosting a free webinar, "Secrets of Thyroid Health and Wellness," in February that you definitely don’t want to miss! Stay tuned for more information on the webinar. This post contains affiliate links and some really fascinating insights into how iodine helps us to stay healthy.
I am very, very excited to teach this class. I encourage you to sign up for the level 2 certification here. You can sign up for the level 1 certification here.
Today, we're going to talk about the quantum life of iodine. Iodine is an essential element. If you've heard of it, you've probably heard that it is necessary for production of thyroid hormone.
What is thyroid hormone? It governs your metabolism. More thyroid hormone, faster metabolism. It governs neurotranmission as part of its function. More thyroid hormone, faster, more rapid, and more intense neurotransmission.
Thyroid hormone is a complex system. There are numerous metabolites and the body controls thyroid hormone productions, secretion, and metabolism tightly because of how powerful thyroid hormone is.
But this isn't ALL that thyroid hormone does. I'll be talking more about this in my thyroid hormone webinar (coming soon!) and in my master-class for the Quantum Biology Collective, but the short story is that thyroid hormone enters cells and does lots of important things. Let's just say you don't want to run out. You don't even want to run low on thyroid hormone.
David Brownstein, MD, wrote the book on this. I'm looking forward to interviewing him sometime (not sure when - it'll be an interview for premium subscribers). I encourage you to pick up a copy of his book.
Here's the problem with iodine. The best marker for iodine sufficiency or deficiency is a 24-hour urine collection. For obvious reasons, very few patients are willing to endure collecting every drop of their urine for 24 hours.
Yet with every other marker, we may miss iodine deficiencies.
Why is this such a big deal?
Because of the results you can get when you restore iodine sufficiency. This is born out in the Japanese population. The Japanese have lower rates of many cancers, and a longer life overall, compared to Americans, and their intake of iodine is undoubtedly a major contributor to this.
How do they consume iodine? Seafood. The richest sources of iodine are seaweed, fish, and shellfish. Seaweed is the king of the iodine hill, which is why I add seaweed powders to my soups, stews, and smoothies. I add a teaspoon per person of powders from Mountain Rose Herbs. I like to use kombu, dulse, and wakame powders.
The vast majority of Americans do not eat adequate fish or shellfish, let alone seaweed. For the record, I do not endorse the seaweed "snacks" you will commonly see in the grocery store. They are often loaded with oils that may do you more harm than good. Still, they may be worth it just for the iodine.
Dr. Brownstein has done more measurements of iodine status, based on 24-hour urine collections, than probably anyone else in history. He has documented that deficiency is in fact widespread and, moreover, there are profound benefits to iodine repletion.
And this leads us to one of the biggest misconceptions about iodine out there. Just because you have normal thyroid function does NOT mean that you have an optimal iodine status.
Because iodine is scarce in nature, it is also scarce in the human body. Compare iodine to something like, say potassium. Potassium is small and abundant in most foods. You probably eat between 3 and 6 grams of potassium per day. You might ingest under 100 micrograms of iodine.
With even modest amounts of seaweed (I might eat 5 grams in a single meal, easily), you will increase your intake of iodine by hundreds or thousands of times. This could make or break your wellness in the long-term.
Now, let's talk about quantum iodine. Iodine is an extremely large molecule. It has a massive cloud of electrons around it, which means that it tends to hang out with positively charged molecules and atoms. This creates a theoretical problem that I look forward to researching in more depth, but that I have some suspicions about. If you have lots of positively charged ions in your urine, might you wind up with more iodine in your urine to compensate for those positive charges?
Why would this be a big, big deal? You've probably heard of the alkaline diet. The alkaline diet remedies an acidic pH with a massive load of magnesium, potassium, and calcium in the diet. This tends to alkalinize the urinary pH. When the urine is alkaline, it is negatively charged. As in, there is lots of hydroxide ion in the urine. In these cases, the body will excrete lots of magnesium, potassium, and calcium to balance out the hydroxide ion.
Flip that situation around. An acidifying diet would be one high in animal meats, proteins, and particularly purines, and low in plant foods. On an acidic diet, the urine will be more positively charged.
I theorize that the body will waste iodine when the diet is acidic.
Enter the modern American diet, a recipe for acidification of the body.
Are modern acidifying diets creating an epidemic of low iodine levels? I suspect the answer is yes.
And another important point about iodine. Halides like bromine and fluoride displace iodine, which means that the more bromine and fluoride you get, the more iodine you need. Fluoride is commonly found in toothpaste and tap water. Bromine is a common food additive, which is part of why processed foods are so bad for you!
Iodine is part of the solution to our modern healthcare woes. I will be talking more about the quantum nature of minerals in my upcoming master-class with the Quantum Biology Collective as part of their level 2 certification, and more on the thyroid in my upcoming Secrets of Thyroid Health and Wellness webinar. If you haven't taken the Quantum Biology Level 1 certification, you can learn more about it here.
Until next time, be well,
Dr. Stillman
I am seeing a functional medicine doctor near me. She cautions me to be very careful about taking Iodoral iodine or I will get my thyroid out of whack. I suspected I was low on iodine after reading Dr Brownstein's book. A year ago I used the urine collection test from Hakala Lab's recommended by Brownstein. It showed that I excreted 30 mg of the 50 mg Iodine. So I ordered Iodoral 12.5 mg. I am following Amy Myer's Solution diet to address leaky gut and elevated autoimmune markets. No gluten. No dairy. No eggs. No butter. No sugar. No beans, legumes, or nuts. No GMO. Organic meat and certain vegetables. Good fats like olive oil and coconut oil. It sounds like my diet is going to result in acidic urine and thus I still need the iodine. I have just ordered another Hakala Lab test to recheck the iodine. I subscribed to your substack to learn more. I subscribe to Mercola and others to learn as much as I can about staying well and out of the broken healthcare system. Thank you
My Japanese grandpa eats a half sheet of nori with his bacon and eggs every morning (rice optional). I have started doing this at my home since he told me about it, and it turns out, my kids love it, too! It’s always interesting to learn more about how and why the traditions work.