Diabetics – Iodine and Health 5

“Everyone Knows Someone Who Needs This Information!” (TM)

I’ve written five articles on the subject of Iodine because it’s amazingly essential for our Health! How come you haven’t heard about it before? Well, it’s complacency and ignorance in current Public Health circles and in your doctor’s office. The scientific research is quite clear, and you need to take about 20 – 25 minutes to read the other 4 parts in this series, for background. If you are a regular reader, then just continue in this article’s text after these links.

LINKS to the previous articles in the series. Please read first. It won’t take long and your health really does depend on knowing this!

Diabetics – Iodine and Health, Part 1
Diabetics – Iodine and Health, Part 2
Diabetics – Iodine and Health, Part 3
Diabetics – Iodine and Health, Part 4

___ In this edition, as one of the topics, let’s discuss Iodine, Pregnancy and Breastfeeding, first.

Thyroid hormone and your thyroid gland, together with iodine, are the most important factors by far for completion of a normal pregnancy and delivering a normal baby.

Iodine is put into the mother’s milk by the lactating breast to levels that are 30 times the levels in the mother’s blood (your body can only put iodine in your breast milk if you have enough to give). I do not know how much (if any) is put into baby formulas. It would not be the first time that formula-makers have missed an essential ingredient. Maybe the amounts used would help explain the rash of learning “disabilities” and generally lower IQ scores in past decades, as Moms feeding their babies by breast milk has declined.

If you find after delivery or while nursing, that your thyroid has become sluggish and you have ‘low thyroid” symptoms (like fatigue, cold extremities, weight gain etc.), then maybe your body is giving all your Iodine stores to your baby and leaving you with nothing left to operate your thyroid and metabolism with. In those circumstances, your immunity is also put at risk, along with many other possibilities to erode your health. Making sure that you maintain proper Iodine levels for you and your baby is critical. You have to learn what foods are iodine rich and then eat them everyday in normal-size portions.

Iodine has very important functions for your child’s brain development before and after birth.

Iodine deficiency in pregnant or nursing mothers can lead to statistically significant neuro-cognitive deficits in their infants. Lack of iodine creates metabolic havoc and may create irreversible developmental brain damage during gestation and in the first several years of life, according to Peter Laurberg, from Aalborg Hospital in Denmark, and his colleagues. If it is bad enough, your child could become a cretin, which is not reversible.

Just start eating seaweed, daily. It tastes good; it really does. Next week, I’ll include more recipes, but meanwhile, Japanese and Macrobiotic cuisines offer the best chance to find some more recipes, along with Korean and Chinese cuisines, to a lesser extent.

[[Never buy Chinese source seaweed unless you are sure there is NO ecological damage in the area where it is harvested. With China’s pollution, this is almost impossible.]]

And, if you are concerned or interested, then take Dr. Abraham’s Iodine Loading Test to find out your body’s Iodine status (his lab is Optimox). All three labs mentioned below supply their own protocol for details on collection of urine samples, pooling samples for 24 hr. and sending a 2 ounce aliquot to the Laboratory for analysis. It would always be best to confirm that you can take this test when you are already pregnant; I don’t know the answer to that.

Dr. Abraham: OPTIMOX CORPORATION
P.O. Box 3378, Torrance, CA 90510-3378
or Call Toll Free in America: (800) 223-1601
Optimox Iodine Loading Test

If you go through the Hakala Research Lab in Colorado, USA you will not need a doctor’s prescription for this test. Hakala Labs

Labrix Clinical Services Inc. in Oregon City, Oregon, USA is another lab which can do this test for you.
LABRIX CLINICAL SERVICES INC.
619 Madison Street STE 100
Oregon City, OR. 97045
Phone: 1 (503) 656-9596
Toll Free in America: 1 (877) 656-9596   Fax: 1 (877) 656-9756
Email: info@labrix.com
Labrix Iodine Testing – explanation

Dr. Jorge Flechas’ Lab: FFP Laboratories
576 Upward Rd. Suite 8
Flat Rock, NC 28731
Toll Free: 877-900-5556
Fax: 828-697-9020
Email: ffp_lab@yahoo.com

___Dr. Ryan Drum, PhD, one of the world’s experts on seaweeds, the best source of Iodine, also mentions that there is a generational aspect to whether you and your future grandchildren will have a body optimizing Iodine and providing protection for any babies you, your daughters and grand-daughters produce.

Read more here: How Seaweed Heals and How To Get Enough Iodine Read especially if you have chronic disease, have had recent trauma, surgery or are having chemotherapy. Additionally, seaweeds can help if you need anti-viral treatment or get pneumonia. Brown seaweeds are also the only vegetarian source of thyroid hormone able to be used by humans. Dr. Drum also discusses using seaweed as treatment “for prevention of Dioxin and PCB uptake” and to treat Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (which he regards as poisoning the brain’s fatty tissue) in troops who have been exposed to chemicals during warfare.

___ It is critical to raise your iodine consumption gradually if you are deficient. Let your organ systems accommodate. You just can’t “catch up quickly” to levels the Japanese use. Too much, too quickly can cause other equally serious health problems. Stay with the amounts Dr. Ryan Drum, PhD, Dr. Abrahams, Dr. Flechas, Dr. Brownstein suggest and work up to 50mg of Iodine a day, over a number of months, even as much as a year.

___ Unless your food happens to be organically-farmed where seaweed actually has been applied as fertilizer, almost no land plants provide iodine, and, as Dr. Drum alerts us, unfortunately, my favorite whole sea salts (Celtic salts) do not have enough, either. There’s just not enough left in even gently-evaporated sea water; you must eat ocean plants (seaweeds) or ocean fish which eat ocean plants to get your Iodine requirement everyday, as Nature intended.

Dr. Ryan Drum, PhD also says, “Individuals with “seafood allergy” seem especially sensitive to iodine. Contrary to some practitioners and their believing patients, he says nobody has “iodine allergy”. No iodine, no life.” Use seaweed as your source rather than fish if you have concerns.

___ SEAWEED IODINE CONTENT from Dr. Drum
Icelandic kelp, 8000 parts per million
Norwegian kelp 4000ppm
Atlantic kelp 1500-2000ppm
Pacific kelps 500-1200ppm
Fucus spp. (species) 200-500ppm
Wakame 50-150ppm
Sargassum 35ppm
Nori 15 ppm

These numbers are estimates and will vary considerably by season, location, age of the plant and harvest practices. Sources for buying these were provided in my previous articles.

___ Dr. Drum has learned that the Japanese and other Asians who eat much more seaweed than the rest of the world does, apparently soak their Kombu and other seaweeds in freshwater for 10-30 minutes prior to using in miso broth (dashi) and other cooking. He says this effectively removes about 60% of the iodine (Hazutosi).

Curiously, he was also told by Japanese nationals that the kombu was then also left in the miso broth for 10-20 minutes and then discarded. It can be used several times, if left to dry out again. And, if you intend to use it several times, then maybe forego the “soaking in fresh water” and just allow the first dashi to have 60% iodine and remaining 2 later dashi soups to have a lesser amount, at least sometimes.

For people like the Japanese and Okinawans, who eat large amounts of seafood and sea veggies, the soaking or prolonged rinsing of high-iodine content seaweeds may reduce the risks for excess iodine-induced disease. But, notice that the all-pervasive “sushi” wrap is made from nori, which has low levels of iodine, and therefore does not require pre-treatment.

Sprinkling dry, cut nori on rice, as a garnish on anything or wrapping sushi, is a good way to get started, along with using about 1t of powdered Japanese-sourced or American-sourced Kombu a day, (to a max in later months of a total of 1Tablespoon of kombu powder per person, spread between 3 meals and snacks most days).

___ Dr. Ryan Drum, PhD also sheds light on another likely wide-spread set of conditions which seaweed can alleviate – potassium deficiency. And, you likely need to take a daily supplement of selenium (this is another mineral researchers find chronically lacking in the general public, and especially in diabetics).

Dr. Drum says, ” I believe that almost any craving for salt in our dietary times of heavily salted (with only “table-salt” i.e. sodium chloride), home-cooking, restaurant meals and preserved foods is a strong indication of potassium deficiency, especially in pregnancy.”

Potassium is an essential mineral, needed for even minimal nerve and muscle functioning. It is also a cross-membrane transporter ion for your brain’s neurotransmittors (like serotonin – which prevents depression) and also for transporting your hormones. This may also help to explain the huge increase in those with depression and other endocrine system disorders, like diabetes.

Dr. Drum has observed that “adding high-potassium foods, especially seaweeds, to the diets of people with A.D.D. (instead of Ritalin) can significantly improve behavior and mental functioning” in children and in adults.

Similarly, fibromyalgia patients, who are: exhausted, forgetful, moody and agitated, as well as those with: anxiety disorders and depression are all favorably improved with high-potassium diets and seaweeds.

Talk to your physician about this and have your doctor contact Dr. Drum (contact info is on his web-site http://www.ryandrum.com.
Potassium supplementation and levels must always be monitored carefully. Too much and too little are both bad.

Well, we’re not done yet, but it’s enough for now.

Best to all — Em

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(c)2009 Em at https://diabetesdietdialogue.wordpress.com
If you would like to quote from or include this article, please contact me at the About Me page above in order to get permission. Please respect my copyright. Thanks!

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Diabetics, Iodine and Health – 2

“Everyone Knows Someone Who Needs This Information!” (TM)

Last week I shared the incredible importance for diabetics and everyone else to have optimal blood levels of iodine and iodide — for successful metabolism, weight-loss, robust immunity and to cure or alleviate many afflictions, including both kinds of DIABETES! You need to Read Diabetics, Iodine and Health – Part 1, here! Now, here’s Part 2.

Many people do not realize that soda pop, in addition to the dangerous sugars or high fructose corn syrup, also contains bromine (in Mountain Dew, Fresca and even orange Gatorade, among others). Bromine takes over your vital receptors meant for iodine.

Mainstream bakery products and pesticides are other large sources of contaminating bromine. Check artisan breads as they are less likely to use dough “conditioners” as they tend to let dough rise naturally and get the proper texture from Time and Temperature after kneading.

Chlorine and Fluorine do the same thing, blocking receptors for Iodine’s use. In fact, the very Iodine you desperately need is actually excreted, if the receptors have already been occupied by the other Halogen Family members, Chlorine, Bromine or Fluorine.

If your municipal water is chlorinated and / or fluoridated, stop drinking it! Use a dechlorinator* in your bath / shower too, as much of the contaminant is chlorine as gas breathed in with the steam. To drink, use spring waters or professionally filtered waters, in the hope that they are removing the fluoride and chlorine.

Then, become an advocate to prevent the fluoride, a toxic by-product from the aluminum industry, from being used (for NO good reason) in YOUR water. There’s no proof it helps with dental cavities, when you look at the hard science studies.

The application of chlorine serves a safety purpose while water is traveling to your home, but it should be removed just before you use your water to bathe or drink.

Other Iodine robbers include Iodine-depleting prescription drugs and over-the-counter preparations (OTC), e.g. aspirin, coumadin / warfarin and steroids. If you have been taking these drugs, you must take the Dr. Broda Barnes, MD Temperature Protocol test at home, to more-accurately check your thyroid function! See below.**

Now that we’ve tried to erase the environmental saboteurs, back to Iodine, itself!

Living in the Pacific Northwest, with large Asian populations and beaches where seaweed is actively harvested, I come to this discussion with a very positive view of seaweed consumption. I truly enjoy all the different seaweeds which I’ve eaten. I use many regularly, and the unique ones I’ve tried were tasty, too.

Nori, Ao Nori, Kombu, Wakame, Dulse, Kelp and Hijiki are my favorites. But, there are many more for me to try! More on sources, below.

Dr. Ryan Drum, PhD, is a former university professor and researcher in cell biology and chemistry. Now, he teaches herbology at Seattle’s famed Naturopathic Medical School – Bastyr University. Ryan is a practicing medical herbalist who conducts workshops in his specialty, seaweeds.

Seaweeds are important as they are the best natural Iodine / iodide sources, and as at least 1 in every 10 women in America have already been diagnosed with thyroid problems, Iodine is vital.

And, this thyroid epidemic is actually much worse, as mainstream medicine’s blood “tests” do NOT truly show the problem. Some endocrinologists say 1 in 4 women have over-active or under-active thyroids. Women are more at risk because female thyroids are automatically twice as large as males’, so women need much more Iodine in their diet! So, diabetic women can have a double-whammy, and need Iodine, for sure.

And, stress, for anyone, also creates the need for more dietary Iodine for your thyroid. Many ethnic groups are also at increased risk — read more about Wilson’s Syndrome.

About 17 years ago, my naturopathic physician introduced me to this next test, and I have always been “borderline”. But, as my symptoms are worsening, I have begun to use much more seaweed than before. My doctor explained the only accurate way for you to monitor your thyroid yourself is using famed endocrinologist Dr. Broda Barnes, MDs temperature protocol. It will accurately assess your thyroid’s well-being. See below.**

Dr. Ryan Drum knows the most about how the iodine in seaweed can improve your thyroid’s function. Seaweed’s good form of Iodine (isotope 127) protects you against the harmful Iodine (isotope 131 form) which we absorb from our environment thanks to the Nuclear Industry – from above-ground nuclear testing and also from nuclear power plants. The only protection is to stop absorption if we breathe it in. How do you do that?

Diabetics, and everyone else, needs to learn to eat seaweed! You cannot overdose on Iodine when it is eaten as food.

Seaweed’s good Iodine isotope 127 is also protective:
___ before and after having Cat Scan and X-ray radiation
___ being the first line of defense in the Iodine 131 environmental pollution
___ for breast cancer, ovarian and endometrial cancers. Low iodine increases the production of estrogens and your lifetime exposure amount of estrogen factors into your cancer risk. Obese people have more estrogenic activity (men make estrogen too, source of “man boobs”).
___ and helpful in all the conditions you learned about in Part 1, including diabetes!

70 years ago, the average American ate 500 – 800 micrograms of Iodine a day in their usual diet. In 1995, the average American only ate 135 micrograms! Good iodine foods were being eliminated and / or people vastly increased the iodine-depletors, as well as the nuclear age happening, with it’s harmful Iodine 131 pollution to latch-on to our body receptors.

Dr. Drum personally uses 5 – 10 grams of brown and red seaweeds daily! That’s about 1.75 ozs. Aim to work up to getting about one Tablespoon of powdered kelp a day , either by sprinkling on food or in capsules (buy filled or do it yourself), over the next few weeks. Seaweed is an alkaline pH food, and that is another reason that it is SO important and healthful for us! See note below if you are already on thyroid medication.

Brown seaweeds like the kelps (especially the Fucus species) are highest in Iodine. Hijiki is also good. Brown kelps contain 500 – 1,500 parts per million of Iodine. Nori has 15 ppm of Iodine — big difference. Nori is the seaweed used in sushi wraps. I suggest using powdered kombu (a kelp), in just about everything. It is the seaweed used in Japanese dashi soup-stock which is a basic component of healthy Japanese diet choices. Heating does not affect Iodine content.

The red seaweeds, including Dulse, Nori and Gracellaria are also helpful. Nori is easy to find in health stores. Get organically farmed seaweeds or those harvested in pristine areas. You will not find the organic, clean ones in Oriental Groceries; they are of unknown origin.

All seaweeds are edible says Dr. Nan Fuchs, PhD. But seaweed from polluted waters is NOT safe to eat!

Get your seaweed only from reliable sources, from people who harvest them in the cleanest waters possible, like the ones I mention below. Much seaweed is sourced from China these days. BEWARE of any Chinese foods; they have heavily polluted their land, waters, sea and air, without regulations or cleanup, so their products are unhealthy!

SOURCES: Use these as part of a healthy diabetic food plan.

Dr. Drum harvests seaweed and brokers it through another well-regarded sales outlet mentioned on his site.

James Jungwirth offers powdered seaweeds in capsules — Fucus species and 5 other red and green seaweeds from Oregon. P.O. Box 150, Williams, Oregon, USA. Phone: 541-846-7995.

Ocean Harvest Sea Vegetable Company in Mendocino, California have recipes on their website and sell online. I have tried some alaria and sea palm from them and some pickled seaweeds I purchased in Mendocino may have been theirs, too. Ocean Harvest Sea Vegetable Company in Mendocino. They sell the seaweeds in as little as 1 oz. packages, so you can try LOTS of different kinds easily.

This is the source of the Organic seaweed products which I have used for 30 years. They also have a recipe book.
Maine Coast Sea Vegetables Company: lab-certified organic seaweeds

and I have also used these products for at least 30 years. Eden Organic Foods – Seaweed choices

The protocol for using seaweed for those who are already on thyroid medication is different and you and your physician might arrange a telephone consultation with Dr. Drum to understand the procedure. Contact Dr. Drum at his website; he does his phone consultations between 6 am and 10am Pacific Coast Time.

ARTICLES:
About Maine Sea Coast Vegetables.
Seaweed Superfoods

* for dechlorination:
Rainshow’r products

** Dr. Broda Barnes. MD procedure for home-testing.
If you have severe arthritis, this test may not work as well for you as minute muscle twitching may raise your temperature on the thermometer; in this instance, if your temperature ins above 98.2F during the test, get more guidance from a properly trained naturopathic physician.***

*** I regard properly trained naturopathic physicans to have degrees from College of Naturopathic Medicine, Portland, Oregon, Bastyr University, Seattle, Southwest College of NM in Scottsdale. Arizona, the Naturopathic medical colleges in Toronto, Canada and in Connecticut, USA. Naturopaths trained in Australia are usually well-trained as are German and Swiss naturopaths. Often, naturopathic physicians have several medical degrees.

Best to all — Em

(c)2009 Em at https://diabetesdietdialogue.wordpress.com
If you desire to quote from or use my material, please write for permission to the About Me tab on the upper navigation bar. Thanks.

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