Page 48 - Winter2017

Iodine is arises in the context of an article focusing on the pair thyroid metabolism to a greater extent than
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essential for problems associated with long-term avoidance diets deficient in only one or the other. Vitamin
A supplementation (with a natural source like
of complex carbohydrates. As healing regi-
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synthesis mens such as the ketogenic and GAPS diets have cod liver oil) reduces the risk of hypothyroidism
of thyroid gained in popularity (alongside continued fas- and improves iodide efficiency. 25
hormones, cination with lower-carb paleo and “ancestral” Three toxic halogens (bromine, chlorine
diets), the role to be played by carbohydrates in and fluorine) are structurally similar to iodine.
so it is not a healthy diet has become “hotly contested” and Because of this similarity, they can take up
surprising “completely confusing.” residence in the thyroid gland, where they
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In point of fact, both extremes can be chal-
exert a negative influence and displace iodine.
8
that the lenging for the thyroid. On the one hand, a diet The three elements are all worrisome from a
thyroid is that is high in refined carbohydrates can lead to health standpoint. However, the policy of add-
where the insulin resistance, metabolic syndrome and dia- ing unpurified industrial fluoride compounds
body stores betes—diseases strongly correlated with thyroid to municipal drinking water may be particu-
disorders. On the other hand, when individuals larly egregious because it subjects citizens to
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roughly who are understandably trying to avoid sugars systemic negative health effects, without their
three-fourths and refined grains swing to a zero or very-low- consent, in exchange for a putative benefit to the

of its iodine. carbohydrate diet, this can have the effect of teeth. (Even this highly touted dental “benefit” is
blocking biologically active thyroid hormones, questionable, given the rising prevalence of den-
resulting in hypothyroidism symptoms such as tal fluorosis.) The compounds added to public
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fatigue, constipation and depression. As one water include fluorosilicic acid (an acidic liquid)
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person puts it, “When all available glucose is and sodium fluorosilicate and sodium fluoride
being conserved for your brain,” the body has (dry powders), all of which also are frequently
no choice but to put the process of thyroid hor- contaminated with “non-trivial” amounts of
mone conversion “on hold.” To restoke one’s arsenic. U.S. water utilities not only obtain
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“metabolic fire,” Schuette recommends includ- their fluoride chemicals from the U.S. phosphate
ing properly prepared complex carbohydrates fertilizer industry but also from China, where
with each meal (including starchy vegetables oversight is likely to be “lax and variable.”
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and soaked legumes and grains), accompanied Leading neurology experts agree that fluo-
by plentiful animal fat and/or coconut oil and ride compounds are neurotoxic, but the U.S.
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Celtic sea salt to supply minerals and trace ele- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
ments, including iodine. 21 (CDC) persists in celebrating water fluorida-
tion as a major public health achievement. As a
IODINE AND FLUORIDE result, it is difficult for U.S.-based researchers
Iodine is essential for synthesis of thyroid to obtain funding to study fluoride’s adverse
hormones, so it is not surprising that the thyroid health effects. Researchers in other countries
gland is where the body stores roughly three- have made greater headway. For example, a 2015
fourths of its iodine. Dr. Ronda Nelson describes study in the United Kingdom—where about 10
this storage system as a “savings account” that percent of the population receives fluoridated
periodically requires replenishment. In addi- water (in contrast to roughly two-thirds of the
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tion to needing to take in adequate iodine, ac- U.S. population)—took advantage of the avail-
cording to Dr. Nelson, we need to have a healthy ability of detailed community water fluoridation
gut (which facilitates conversion of some por- data and General Practice data on the prevalence
tion of iodine to iodide), and we need the right of hypothyroidism to assess fluoride’s effects
cofactors (especially the fat-soluble vitamins, on the thyroid.
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magnesium, selenium and vitamin D) to enable The researchers found that practices located
the transport of iodine and its use by the thyroid. in fluoridated areas were nearly twice as likely
Studies have identified interactions between to report a high prevalence of hypothyroidism
vitamin A and iodine metabolism, for example, as practices in non-fluoridated areas, raising
showing that diets deficient in both nutrients im- “concerns about the validity of community

48 Wise Traditions WINTER 2017