WILD ATTRACTION WILD ATTRACTION - Earthstar

Halt onSparks Iodine DeficiencyDoctors’say,“Cut back on the Salt…”But How Will We Obtain Our Iodine?By William Davis, MDThose who consume heavily salted foodssuffer an increased incidence of certaincancers. In susceptible individuals, highsodium intake spikes blood pressure.In response to the dangers of consuming excess salt,Americans are restricting their sodium intake. This hasled to a risky unintended consequence.Typical Western diets are low in iodine. When iodizedtable salt is reduced, people can easily become iodineinsufficient or deficient.Inadequate iodine not only impairs thyroid function, butis also linked to increased risks of breast cancer andfibrocystic breast disease, along with fatigue and weightgain.Fortunately, iodine is such a low-cost element thatmore of it can be added to multi-nutrient formulas thathealth-conscious individuals take each day.Widespread Iodine Use EliminatesGoiter EpidemicMost Americans over sixty years old remember the daysof goiters, the unsightly thyroid gland enlargement visibleon the neck that was wildly rampant. As many asone-third of the inhabitants of some parts of the countrywere affected.Goiters were not just unattractive. They sometimesreached grotesque proportions, compressing adjacentstructures like the trachea, necessitating surgicalremoval. If a pregnant woman had goiter, she was at riskfor delivering a mentally impaired child.The connection between goiter and deficiency of thetrace element iodine was confirmed when a family doctorconducted an experiment on schoolgirls in 1916.Despite objections from local residents, Dr. DavidMarine administered what we now recognize as a verylarge dose of iodine: 170-340 mg (170,000 - 340,000micrograms or mcg) sodium iodide per day for a periodwww.earthstarmag.com OCTOBER / NOVEMBER 2009 EARTH STAR 63