I have always been cautious regarding large amounts of iodine consumption simply because overdosing in iodine can cause similar problems to iodine deficiency. However it's becoming apparent that our soils are so overused and depleted that iodine deficiency is much more common than had been realised.
After supplementing quite generously with iodine for about two months I found for the first time I did not get cold in the early hours sleeping outside. After a lifetime of difficulties dealing with cold (it got better after going raw but still was a problem) I wondered if it really has been at least exacerbated by lack of iodine.
Anyway I was delighted to find Seagreens (in my local health food shop Greenlife in Totnes) which supplies iodine and lots of other important trace minerals and other nutrients in a natural form. You can buy the food capsules which contain a wealth of trace minerals and other nutrients including iodine or an iodine plus version which still has trace minerals but twice as much iodine. You can also buy it online at
http://www.oceansofgoodness.com. (By the way, this is just sharing useful information, I only earn income from products I sell directly).
Something many raw foodists are not aware is the following information:
'When raw crucifers [cabbage family and includes maca - these vegetables are traditionally cooked] are chewed, or when microwaved and steamed crucifers are digested by intestinal bacteria, they release substances called goitrogens that increase the need for iodine when consumed in small amounts and can damage the thyroid gland when consumed in large amounts.
These goitrogens also inhibit the transfer of iodine into mother's milk.
Steaming crucifers until they are fully cooked reduces the goitrogens to one-third the original value on average. Since release of the goitrogens from steamed crucifers depends on intestinal bacteria, however, the amount released varies from person to person.
Boiling crucifers for thirty minutes reliably destroys 90 percent of the goitrogens.
Fermentation does not neutralize the goitrogens in crucifers. When foods like sauerkraut are consumed as condiments, however, the small amount of goitrogens within them is not harmful if one's diet is adequate in iodine.
An increased dietary intake of iodine compensates for the consumption of moderate amounts of crucifers but cannot reverse the effects of large amounts of crucifers.'
from
http://www.westonaprice.org/abcs-of-nutrition/177-bearers-of-the-cross.html
It seems it is not just the thyroid that is interested in iodine but also the pineal which, we are told, stores it for the thyroid. This reminds me of the out-dated idea that the pineal is a vestigial organ (they thought this about the right hemisphere of the brain once...though maybe for some it is - no i did not say that). I can't help wondering if the pineal is so keen to lap up iodine whether it has some use for it. Fluoride and chlorine have a similar atomic structure to iodine (they are all halogens) but are smaller atoms and this is why the pineal takes up such a large proportion of any chlorine and fluoride that manages to get into us. They are of course foreign substances to the pineal though and thats why its so important we protect ourselves from them. Getting sufficient iodine is one of our lines of defence.
