The Great Iodine Debate

Iodine Part 1: You need more Iodine, even though doctors disagree on how much

RDA = Really Dumb Advice

The US government recommends 150 micrograms (150 mcg) of Iodine for American adults to take daily. This is the official RDA. The government goes a step further and proposes an upper limit on how much Iodine you should take per day, and they set that upper limit at 1,100 mcg. This is the so-called Tolerable Upper Intake Level.

There is some interesting history to the 150 mcg RDA. Historically (about a century ago), this was the amount of Iodine that was needed to stop people from getting enlarged thyroids (known as goiters).

However, goiters are only one aspect of iodine deficiency. There are many other issues (like infertility, reduced IQ, Hashimoto’s and Graves’ disease, breast and prostate cancers) related to iodine deficiency. It’s not obvious that 150 mcg is enough to stop these other issues. And of course the thyroid isn’t the only tissue that needs iodine. Every single cell in the body needs Iodine! By this argument alone, you probably need more than 150 mcg.

But then you throw in the fact that we are currently being bombarded by toxic halogens (fluorine, chlorine, bromine) that displace Iodine from our bodies. These toxins were not an issue a century ago, so they are not factored in to that 150 mcg number. In fact, nowadays the average American is exposed to several milligrams of Bromine everyday. So that suggests the need to supplement with milligrams of Iodine, just to counteract that Bromine exposure alone.

Disagreement amongst doctors

Even amongst doctors that I trust, there is no consensus on how much Iodine you should take. Ultimately, you have to make a decision of who do your trust MORE!

I generally trust doctors who are in the community of the keto diet / carnivore diet (because this diet has cured many problems for me). But even within this community, there is no agreement. For example, Eric Berg, who gives excellent advice on most nutritional topics, believes that Iodine can be toxic at high doses (video here). The same is true for Westin Childs, who has clinical experience treating thyroid patients (video here). Both of them recommend roughly sticking to the RDA, although they have signaled that going a little higher (like a few hundred micrograms) would be OK.

On the other hand, Ken Berry believes that milligram doses are fine, and that excess Iodine is simply excreted in your urine (and hence high-dose Iodine is not toxic). Ken is another great voice for keto/carnivore that I typically trust.

So who should I believe? Well, none of them. I want to listen to someone who has devoted their ENTIRE LIFE’S WORK to studying Iodine.

Look I am a scientist, and I’ve interacted with other scientists with varying levels of expertise. If you want to understand quantum computing, you should listen to Scott Aaronson or John Preskill (or myself). You should not listen to Michio Kaku (who does like to opine on quantum computing occasionally).

The Great Dr. Brownstein

David Brownstein has written a well-known book about Iodine, and he has indeed been studying Iodine in the clinical setting for several decades. In my opinion, he appears to be the most knowledgeable person on planet Earth on the Iodine topic.

I fully appreciate the fact that Iodine is a complex subject, and I continue to gather information from multiple sources on the subtleties of Iodine. However, it’s crucial to have a gut-level feeling of who is ultimately correct in this debate. There is a very simple question: Is Iodine toxic in high doses? One group of doctors say Yes, and another group says No.

David Brownstein is one of the doctors who says No. In fact, Brownstein argues that you absolutely need high doses of Iodine if you want to displace any of the toxins in your system, specifically the other halogens (Bromide and Fluoride). So Brownstein argues that low-dose Iodine is not particularly useful.

Brownstein has done several interviews that you can find on YouTube, such as this one with Ken Berry. In these interviews, he typically recommends a daily dose of 50 mg (50,000 mcg) of Iodine. That is more than 300 times the government’s RDA!

My personal gut-level feeling that Brownstein is right.

Two types of side effects

With that said, it is very clear that taking high-dose Iodine can result in a laundry list of side effects. I know this because I’ve experience these effects myself. Just to name a few, I had insomnia, diarrhea and constipation, hot and cold flashes, cold hands and feet, body odor, acne, dry skin, and hip pain. What explains these strange side effects?

My simplistic understanding is that there are two types of side effects. One type is “good”, and the other type is “not so good”.

The “good” type of side effects are those associated with detoxing toxic chemicals from your body. Specifically, Iodine displaces other halogens, especially Bromine. By taking high-dose Iodine, you mobilize the Bromine in your body. Eventually this leads to the excretion of this Bromine, but not before it reaps some temporary havoc on your body. Several of the symptoms I had (insomnia, body odor, acne, hip pain) were likely due to mobilizing Bromine.

There are many good resources discussing the Bromine detox process (e.g., I enjoyed watching this random video from the Klaus Plays channel). Needless to say, Bromine is no joke. It is extremely toxic, and I can honestly say that I was shocked by how annoying these Bromine-related symptoms were. The one good thing, however, is that eventually the Bromine disappears from your body. And then your body is clean! (Note that the Bromine detox process can take a month or two. And it apparently can be sped up by ingesting a lot of sea salt, as the salt helps to remove Bromine from your body.)

The second type of side effect is more concerning in my mind. Whenever you take high-dose Iodine, your thyroid is kicked into high gear, which leads to the production of oxidative chemicals (specifically hydrogen peroxide). If you only take Iodine alone, without any effort to combat these oxidative chemicals, then you could be in trouble. Namely, you could damage your thyroid tissue due to oxidation.

This is why it is recommended to take certain co-factors with Iodine. These co-factors include Selenium, Magnesium, and Vitamin C. All three of these co-factors help to boost your anti-oxidants. Hence they can push back against oxidative processes, and ultimately protect your thyroid tissue. I believe it’s crucial to emphasize this point, because otherwise taking Iodine could damage your thyroid. Perhaps this could explain why some doctors believe Iodine is toxic in high doses.

Remember to fix your immune system

I also believe that it is important to have a healthy immune system, to avoid auto-immune reactions. You can bulletproof your immune system with three key steps: (1) get on the keto diet, (2) do intermittent fasting, and (3) supplement with Vitamin D. I think it’s important to do this, because it helps to prevent the infamous Hashimoto’s disease, where your immune system attacks your thyroid. Hashimoto’s is extremely common amongst American women. So make sure you fix your immune system, in parallel to supplementing with Iodine (and it’s co-factors).

Why you should take Iodine

There are many reasons to start taking Iodine. If you’ve been exposed to toxins like heavy metals, fluoride, or bromide, then Iodine helps you to detox. If your thyroid is malfunctioning (e.g., due to Hashimoto’s disease), then Iodine is one piece of the puzzle (see above for the other pieces). You are likely Iodine deficient.

If you would like to have a baby someday, you need Iodine to nourish your reproductive organs. If you are in the process of having a baby, baby’s IQ is directly tied to how much Iodine is present during fetal growth. Imagine if you could control your child’s IQ just by taking a supplement!!

If you are worried about getting cancer, Iodine has a direct effect to suppress the growth of cysts and tumors. One could make the argument that breast cancer is largely an Iodine deficiency disease. Imagine all the medical research and funding that has gone into curing breast cancer, when in fact we had a simple & cheap cure all along: Iodine.

Thanks for reading this blog post! Stay tuned for more controversial health topics!