Page 43 - Summer2009

more study is needed. Evidence indicates that that the administration of these salts is at pres-
increased iodine consumption replaces and ent the best means of determining whether, for
therefore helps detox other halogens, such as instance, a cranial tumor be syphilitic or not.”
ÀXRULGH DQG EURPLGH DQG HYHQ WR[LF PHWDOV (Perhaps what the iodides did was remove toxic
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like lead, aluminum and mercury. One theory mercury from the bodies of syphilitics who had
is that liberal amounts of iodine in the diet can been treated with mercury-based medicines!)
SURWHFW DJDLQVW WKH KDUPIXO HIIHFWV RI ÀXRULGDWHG Sarah Pope, our Tampa/St. Petersburg chap-
water. Iodine supports the immune system and ter leader, reports that her father, a pediatrician,
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protects against abnormal growth of bacteria in routinely gave Lugol’s solution (a combination of
the stomach. iodine and potassium iodide) to treat congestion
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In addition to the thyroid and mammary in the lungs and sinuses. The theory was that the
glands, other tissues possess an iodine pump iodide drops would thin the mucus and make
(the sodium-iodine symporter) which allows FRXJKLQJ PRUH SURGXFWLYH 7KH GRVH ZDV ¿YH
iodine concentration. Thus, it is logical to con- drops in water, continued for several days. In
clude that iodine plays an important role in these his professional experience, the remedy cleared
organs—the stomach mucosa, salivary glands, congestion and, in the case of asthmatics, dilated
ovaries, thymus gland, skin, brain, joints, arteries the bronchial tubes and assisted breathing. This
and bone. author received the same remedy as a child—the
taste of iodine brings back memories of being
A HISTORY OF IODINE THERAPY sick and in bed, and receiving the drops in orange
Iodine was discovered in 1811 and shortly juice.
thereafter entered the materia medica. It was used The decline in the use of iodine in medicine
in large amounts until the mid-1900s for treating EHJDQ LQ ZKHQ UHVHDUFKHUV :ROII DQG &KDL-
various dermatologic conditions, chronic lung koff published a landmark paper on the thyroid
disease, fungal infestations, tertiary syphilis effects of increasing amounts of potassium
and even arteriosclerosis. The Nobel laureate iodide, injected into rats. The authors stated:

'U $OEHUW 6]HQW *\|UJL ± WKH SK\VL- “Organic binding of iodine within the glands
cian who discovered vitamin C, wrote: “When I can be almost completely blocked by raising the
was a medical student, iodine in the form of KI level of plasma inorganic iodine (PII) above a
[potassium iodide] was the universal medicine. certain critical level, which for the rat amounts
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Nobody knew what it did, but it did something WR DERXW WR SHUFHQW ´ This effect became Thus, it is
and did something good. We students used to known as the Wolff-Chaikoff (W-C) effect. Ac- logical to
sum up the situation in this little rhyme: cording to the conventional view, high levels of
intracellular iodide suppress the transcription of conclude that

If ye don’t know where, what, and why thyroid peroxidase (TPO) enzyme, along with iodine plays
Prescribe ye then K and I.” NADPH oxidase, leading to a reduction in the an important

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synthesis of thyroid hormone, thyroxin. As
According to the 11th edition of the Ency- proof of the W-C effect, the textbooks point to role in these
clopedia Britannica, published in 1911, the phar- the fact that large amounts of potassium iodide organs—
macological action of compounds containing can remedy hyperthyroidism. Another apparent the stomach
potassium iodide, “is as obscure as their effects FRQ¿UPDWLRQ LV WKH WK\URLG VXSSUHVVLQJ HIIHFW
in certain diseased conditions are consistently of several iodine-containing drugs, of which the mucosa,
brilliant. Our ignorance of their mode of ac- most famous is amiodarone, which can cause salivary glands,
tion is cloaked by the term deobstruent, which both under- and overactivity of the thyroid. In ovaries,
implies that they possess the power of driving a trial that compared amiodarone with other
out impurities from the blood and tissues. Most PHGLFDWLRQV IRU WKH WUHDWPHQW RI DWULDO ¿EULOOD- thymus gland,
notably is this the case with the poisonous prod- tion, ELRFKHPLFDO K\SRWK\URLGLVP DV GH¿QHG skin, brain,

ucts of syphilis. In its tertiary stage—and also E\ D 76+ OHYHO RI P8 / RFFXUUHG LQ joints, arteries
earlier—this disease yields in the most rapid percent of the amiodarone-treated group as op-
and unmistakable fashion to iodides, so much so posed to 6.6 percent of the control group (taking and bone.

SUMMER 2009 Wise Traditions 41