Lugol’s Iodine

• Adults: Take 1-2 drops in pure filtered water daily or take it as directed by your healthcare practitioner. Do not exceed the recommended daily intake.
• Although Lugol’s Iodine is recommended by many healthcare practitioners during pregnancy and nursing, please consult with your doctor before use.

Symptoms of Iodine Deficiency and related Thyroid Disorders can include:

• Swelling of thyroid glands in the neck.
• A visible lump (goiter) on your neck.
• Weight gain, fatigue and weakness.
• Thinning hair.
• Dry skin.
• Feeling colder than usual.
• Slowed heart rate.
• Learning and memory difficulties.

WARNING: Consult with your doctor before taking if you are on any Thyroid medication.

Lugol’s Iodine uses:
We recommend you research the dose of Iodine in depth. Many people take 2 drops in clean filtered water daily or as advised by their healthcare practitioner. Lugol’s Iodine can be easily absorbed into the body through the skin and many people prefer to take Iodine this way. It is also recommended that you consider the use of Selenium and fermented food (or Probiotics). We cannot recommend a specific dose and length of use. We cannot recommend dosage regarding children and pregnant women. Please research Lugol’s Iodine dosage. When applying to skin: apply a little to a small area of skin first to check for reaction.

The RDA is 150 micrograms and you’ll find that in most good multivitamin sources and tinctures and capsules based on kelp and other herbal materials. This is what is found on most internet sites and health food shops. Although this is a bare minimum dose it is what most physicians and pharmacists are most comfortable with. In many experts opinion, this is bare bones Iodine supplementation.

The so-called Japanese dose of 12.5 to 13 MILLIgrams a day of one of the iodine forms (Potassium Iodide, Iodine/Potassium Iodide or Potassium Iodate) is probably where you want to be for most nutritional requirements. It is very safe and considered optimal based on the good health of the Japanese who get around this amount on a daily basis. Keep in mind most forms of Iodine contain some non-iodine material (Potassium, Oxygen). According to Dr Michael B. Schacter of the Schacter Center for Complementary Medicine, “In Iodine deficiency states it can take up to a year to become sufficient in Iodine using this dose.”

You could go a bit crazy and take a higher dose, for non-emergencies, 30-50 MILLIgrams, which in many expert opinions, is as high as you should go. It’s probably safe (although no one know for sure), but be vigilant for hyperthyroid or hypothyroid symptoms. Signs of hyperthyroidism include oily or sweaty skin, high blood pressure, heart palpitations, jitteriness, bulging eyes and signs of hypothyroidism include sluggishness, low blood pressure, dry skin, cold extremities, tiredness and hair-loss. In Iodine deficiency conditions, again according to Dr Schacter, “It can take several months to become sufficient taking this kind of dose.”

The 130 MILLIgram dose (and some people are suggesting 150 MILLIgrams!) is extremely high and not required for most Iodine needs. It is considered an emergency dose for those who live near a site of large release of radioactive iodine-131. According to the CDC a single 130 MILLIgram dose of Potassium Iodide protects the thyroid for 24 hours. Keep in mind, too much Iodine can be a problem and, for what it’s worth, this is not a dose we can recommend for other than an emergency! That being said, there are physicians who are on record saying that higher doses, even gram amounts (1 gram = 1000 MILLIgrams) can be used therapeutically for life threatening health issues for short periods of time.

Lugol’s Iodine Solution which is standardised to 10% Iodine, although due to FDA interference in the USA most Lugol’s today is 4% or 2% strength. Nevertheless, we will base the math on the traditional 10% Lugol’s Iodine formulation. This is a combination Iodine product made with Potassium Iodide (76.5% iodide) and Elemental Iodine. The way the math works on this one, 2 drops of Lugol’s Iodine is the equivalent 13mg dose of an Iodine/Potassium Iodide blend. Because some of that iodide is in a potassium iodide format, which contains some potassium, somewhat less than 13mg is going to be Iodine. After all is said and done this nets a total around 11mg of Iodine per 2 drops. And, this allows the patient to have the benefit of both Iodine and iodide, although this is a less relevant concern for people using Lugol’s Iodine for radiation protection. This means that around 24 drops of Lugol’s Iodine 10% solution is required to deliver the 130mg dose required for radiation protection.

Dr Jonathan Wright: (a pioneer in natural medicine): Recommends that women take about 6 mg of Iodine per day, and men about 3 mg per day to protect their thyroid and breast health.

Dr Abrahams: “The correct quantity of Iodine needed to maintain sufficient amounts of Iodine in the body is 13 mg. daily. This is 100 times more than the government recognised RDA for Iodine. When treating disease we need to raise Iodine levels quickly.” Dr David Brownstein says “Of all the elements known to be essential for human health, Iodine is the most misunderstood. Iodine is the safest of all the essential trace elements, being the only one that can be administered safely for long periods of time in daily amounts as high as 100,000 times the RDA.”

Dr Schachter: “The treatment dose when a person is iodine insufficient is generally between 12.5 mg and 50 mg daily. Preliminary research indicates that if a person is Iodine insufficient, it takes about 3 months to become Iodine sufficient while ingesting a dosage of 50 mg of Iodine and a year to become Iodine sufficient while ingesting a dosage of 12.5 mg of Iodine daily. This equates to 2 drops a day as a maintenance dose and 5 drops a day to reach it, or more if your health specialist advises.”

Dr Mark Sircus: “When treating life threatening diseases we do not have months to fool around with low dosages. We need to zoom up Iodine levels quickly. And we need to get it concentrated to certain tissues or organs. In the 1930s when Iodine was still a universal medicine it was used at much higher dosages than anyone even dreams of using today.” Prominent thyroid researcher, Dr Benjamin Eskin, has shown that the thyroid gland and skin prefer to concentrate the iodide form of Iodine while the breasts concentrate iodine. His research suggested that the body needs both the iodide and iodine form of Iodine, both of which are found in a perfect balance in Lugol’s Iodine.

Dr Rowen: Dr Rowen has studied Iodine in depth, here are some quotes from his work: “Iodine should be stored in your fat tissues, liver, heart, salivary glands, stomach cells, parts of the eye that deal with aqueous fluid and intraocular pressure, and even in specific brain cells that are related to a progressive nervous system disorder that affects movement.” “The second largest concentration of Iodine in the female body is in the breasts. To give you an idea of how much Iodine your body needs, the breasts must have 100 times as much Iodine in the blood to have their fill as does the thyroid! The same is true for the other endocrine glands, the prostate, stomach, and white blood cells.”

“Many of us integrative physicians have used Iodine for decades to completely quell all symptoms of conditions in which the breasts feel lumpy and menstrual-associated breast aches. Iodine deficiency could also be the cause of your fatigue, chronic illness, immune defects, and lack of stomach acid. An under-active thyroid typically causes fatigue. Iodine supplementation can quickly activate the thyroid and relieve chronic tiredness. Iodine is found in large amounts in the brain including the parts of the brain, associated with the well-known condition that affects movement and the ciliary body of the eye (The ring-shaped muscle that changes the shape of the lens when the eye focuses), a possible factor in eye conditions.”

“In addition to fixing almost all cases of breast cysts, Iodine also has a remarkable healing effect on ovarian cysts, and even on skin cysts. (For the latter, I recommend rubbing in Iodine right over the cyst) many organs need Iodine, but can’t absorb it until the blood measurements reach very high levels. The stomach and salivary glands are two such organs, but they can’t uptake Iodine in any significant amounts until the blood level reaches 100 times what the thyroid needs. Most people do not produce enough stomach acid as they grow older. I firmly believe low gastric acidity can be caused by Iodine deficiency, as Iodine promotes stomach acidity!”