17. Indispensable Iodine

Last week I was sitting at my table at the Farmers’ Market when a woman came up and commented on my colloidal silver, asking if I made my own. 

“Yes,” I told her, “I bought a good generator for my own purposes, and then, since I sit at the market anyway with my books and CDs, I decided to make the silver available at a low price.”

 As we talked it quickly became evident that she was a health enthusiast with a lot of knowledge. I was surprised when she said she was from St. Albert—I wondered what would bring her to our market. Well, she had a table at the market too; she comes here about once a month on a rotating schedule. When I inquired what her product was, she explained that she leases a machine—that actually won a Nobel Prize—that scans your skin and gives a read-out as to the level of antioxidants you have in your body. 

“How long does it take?” 

“About two minutes.” 

“How much does it cost?” 

“Ten dollars.” 

“I’ll be right there,” I told her as she left. 

I gathered up my valuables, deserting my table and all my stuff, and off I went. Found her and her friend, laid down my ten-spot, and stuck my hand in front of their machine. A minute and a half later, they looked at my printout, their eyes got big, and they said, “Congratulations! No one we’ve ever checked has had as high a score as you!” They showed me that my score was 91,000 on a scale of 10,000 to 100,000 (I’m not sure what the unit is) and told me that the average person falls between 20,000 and 29,000.

 “Wow!” I said, wondering why this was. Most of us know that our antioxidant level is usually proportional to the amount of fruit and vegetables we eat. This is one of the reasons why Health Canada is always urging us to get our five to ten per day. I try, but I don’t think I do any better that most people. I try to have a salad most evenings, and some cooked veggies with my meat and potatoes. I might have a piece of fruit in the course of a given day; maybe even two. I sometimes have some tomatoes or bell peppers with my eggs in the morning. But really, when all is said and done, I might only average five servings daily. 

When I saw my husband that evening and told him all about the scan, I pondered again why my antioxidants were so high. 

“Maybe it’s all the iodine you take,” Greg suggested. 

“Hmm. I wonder.” I went off to my office, googled “iodine antioxidants,” and quickly discovered that iodine does indeed act as a powerful antioxidant in the body most of the time—and can act also as an oxidant, “when it needs to,” whatever that means. 

I mentioned in my last article that the skin uptakes a lot of iodine when there is plenty to go around, and I speculated that perhaps this would give the skin a fighting chance against the oxidative damage of sun exposure. This brings to mind another snippet of information from my past reading: Although among Japanese men there is a very high percentage of heavy smokers, they have the lowest percentage of lung cancer. The theory is that with the Japanese population having the highest intake of iodine among people groups worldwide (13 mg. daily, approximately what I take), given that mucous membranes retain high levels of iodine when there is general body sufficiency, and given that iodine is known to kill abnormal cells … well, you get the picture. And this picture supports my hunch about iodine keeping the skin healthy.

This reminds me of a case I read about at www.health-science-spirit.com/iodine.html. Dr. Guy Abraham is “an endocrinologist who today is providing the backbone of the movement back toward the use of iodine as an essential, safe and effective medicine.” He says this: 

We placed an 83-year-old woman on ortho-iodo supplementation [all the iodine a body can possibly use] for six months at 50 mgs of elemental iodine daily. She experienced a tremendous increase in energy, endurance, well being, and memory.” 

But here is the part that astounded me, and the part that fits with the context of this article: 

At six months all her skin peeled off and was replaced by new, younger-looking skin. She was flabbergasted and amazed at her new appearance.

Yeah, I’m going to keep taking iodine.