You are currently browsing the tag archive for the ‘Iodine’ tag.
from http://www.redicecreations.com/article.php?id=17613
If you have been exposed to any form of radiation, either for medical diagnostic purposes (fluoroscopy/mammography/other medical x-ray exams) or in the course of radiotherapy treatment, or if you are otherwise concerned by excessive radiation exposure, overload or poisoning (such as living near a nuclear reactor facility, working with diagnostic radiological equipment/in the nuclear processing industries/uranium mining/uranium or plutonium processing), or if you have been exposed to radioactive particles or higher ionizing radiation doses stemming from other sources such as depleted uranium (DU), testing of atomic weapons, frequent flights in higher altitudes, a nuclear disaster (radiation fallout from the Japan nuclear power plants) etc., here are a number of tips and suggested remedies how to naturally help your body excrete damaging radioactive elements (e.g. strontium and radioactive iodine) or detoxify their noxious byproducts such as free radicals as well as deal with radiation burns.
If you are having any kind of radiation treatments, macrobiotic is the cure. Macrobiotics is very effective in curing radiation sickness and cancer.
If you are diagnosed with cancer and you want to survive the cancer avoid any and all exposure to radiation treatment. Radiation treatment of any kind is what actually kills people diagnosed with cancer. Exposure to radiation causes a cascade of free radicals that wreak havoc on the body. Free radicals damages DNA, protein, and fats. Free radical damage has been clinically proven to be a major contributor to cancer. That being said, people don’t die of cancer, they die of radiation poisoning. The repeated exposure to radiation through so-called treatment overwhelms the body’s immune system. Cancer doesn’t cause hair loss for cancer patients, the radiation treatment is solely responsible for that. Cancer doesn’t cause weight loss, the radiation treatment causes that because it suppresses your appetite. Cancer doesn’t cause a cancer patient to become very weak and sick, the radiation treatment poisons the body and makes them very weak and sick.
According to Michio and Aveline Kushi, in his book Macrobiotic Diet, Michio Kushi states: ‘At the time of the atomic bombing of Nagasaki in 1945, Tatsuichiro Akizuki, M.D., was director of the Department of Internal Medicine at St. Francis Hospital in Nagasaki. Most patients in the hospital, located one mile from the center of the blast, survived the initial effects of the bomb, but soon after came down with symptoms of radiation sickness from the radioactivity that had been released. Dr. Akizuki fed his staff and patients a strict macrobiotic diet of brown rice, miso* and tamari soy sauce soup, wakame and other sea vegetables, Hokkaido pumpkin, and sea salt and prohibited the consumption of sugar and sweets. As a result, he saved everyone in his hospital, while many other survivors in the city perished from radiation sickness.’”
In case you missed it the secret to surviving all forms of radiation exposure is sea salt. If you are concerned about the radiation fallout from the Japan nuclear plants disaster or if you had an X-ray (from hospitals and airport screening) or radiation treatments for cancer, soak your body in sea salt (not iodized table salt) baths to help pull out the radiation from your body.
If you were diagnosed with mouth or throat cancer and you were subjected to deadly radiation treatments gargling with baking soda mixed in water will help neutralize the radiation.
Baking soda is so powerful in curing radiation contamination that at Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico, researcher Don York has used baking soda to clean soil contaminated with uranium. Sodium bicarbonate binds with uranium, separating it from the dirt; so far, York has removed as much as 92 percent of the uranium from contaminated soil samples. Still not convinced? Would it help to know that the United States Army recommends the use of baking soda to protect the kidneys from radiation damage.
Radiation is very toxic. Exposure to radiation of any amount is harmful to your body. Exposure to radiation through x-rays (hospitals and airport screening) or any of the so-called cancer treatments are the most dangerous source of radiation poisoning. X-rays and radiation cancer treatments are far deadlier than radiation fallout because the exposure is concentrated and frequent.
To pull the radiation poison out of the body, try bathing in half a cup of sea salt and half a cup of baking soda. Soak for at least 20-30 minutes, every day for three weeks or every other day for six weeks. . . or go on a vacation to the West Indies or South Pacific and swim in the ocean every day for three weeks! Why the Indies or South Pacific? Because of the higher concentration of sea salt. Where is the best place on Earth to go for curing yourself of radiation? The Dead Sea. The Dead Sea salt content is four times that of most world’s oceans. Sea salt draws the radiation out of the body.
Can’t afford to travel to the Dead Sea and cure yourself of the radiation poison from nuclear plant fallout, x-rays and radiation cancer treatment? A tiny pinch of good quality sea salt in several glasses of distilled water each day will provide one with all the minerals and trace elements you need to rid your body of the radiation and stay healthy.
Can’t stomach sea salt? The amino acid, cysteine also protects against the damaging effects of radiation by terminating the free radicals produced by ionizing radiation. Cysteine, together with methionine, cystine, and their derivatives, is numbered among the “sulphurated amino acids” due to the fact that these amino acids contain sulfur in addition to carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen and oxygen.
Source: presscore.ca
The Lymphatic (Lymph) System and a Simple Lymphatic Cleanse To Improve Health
The lymphatic system is a complex network of fluid-filled nodes, vessels, ducts and glands — including the spleen, thymus and tonsils — that bathe our cells and carry our body’s “sewage” away from the tissues and neutralize it. These elements of the lymph system work together to carry cellular waste to the bloodstream. The lymph system handles toxins that enter the body through external sources, such as foods or air pollution, but also handles internally produced toxins (endotoxins) that are the result of normal metabolic processes in the body.
The lymphatic system can be compared to the drains in your house and the blood to the faucets. If the drains are clogged in your sinks, you would clean the drains and not just the faucets. Without regular cleaning, the lymphatic system can stay clogged for many years thus forcing us to adapt to an environment of toxins that stresses and weakens immunity and other important pathways of detoxification.
The Lymph Stress Quiz
Take the following quiz to learn whether your lymphatic system could use cleansing.
1. Are you overweight or have belly fat?
2. Do you have cellulite or fatty deposits?
3. Do you suffer from various and sundry aches and pains?
4. Have you been diagnosed with fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue syndrome, multiple sclerosis, lupus or another chronic immune system disorder?
5. Have you ever yo-yo dieted or are you always on some sort of diet?
6. Do you experience abdominal bloating?
7. Do you experience eye puffiness?
8. Do you have skin rashes or itchiness?
If you answered “yes” to any of the above questions, your lymph system could use tuning up. For generally healthy people, cleansing once or twice yearly (for two to three weeks at a time) usually is adequate. If you’re overweight or have an immune disorder, you may wish to cleanse more frequently or for longer periods, under the supervision of your health-care provider. (modified quiz from http://www.herbcompanion.com/Health/Love-Your-Lymph.aspx)
Learn About Lymph
A study by Elisabeth Dancey, M.D., author of The Cellulite Solution (St. Martin’s Press, 1997), found that women with cellulite showed lymphatic system deficiencies. Another study found that 80 percent of overweight women have sluggish lymphatic systems and that getting this system flowing smoothly is the key to easy weight loss and improved feelings of well-being.
If the lymph system is inefficient, you may see fatty deposits or cellulite or experience aches and pains. Conversely, if you improve the cleansing ability of the lymph system, it will be able to “sweep” away the toxins that are linked to pain, cellulite, fatty deposits and some autoimmune disorders.
A healthy lymphatic system also helps purify the blood through the largest mass of lymph tissue in the body, the spleen. The spleen fights infection and destroys worn-out red blood cells in the body. By cleansing your lymphatic system, your spleen will be better able to handle the retired red blood cells.
MOVE YOUR BODY: EXERCISE IS VITAL
There is three times more lymph fluid in the body than blood, yet the body has no organ like the heart to pump lymph. That means lymph relies on deep breathing and exercise to move. While cleansing the lymphatic system, be sure to increase aerobic exercise — try brisk walking, rebounding on a mini trampoline or jogging. Also, it’s important to take time to practice deep-breathing exercises to help pump the lymph with fresh oxygen.
Thoroughly cleansing the lymphatic system is the key to long- term and efficient weight loss and great health. It is also the key to experiencing great health and living without pain.
3 Major Causes Of Lymphatic Congestion
- Stress has been identified as the cause of about 80% of all disease. The chemistry of stress is degenerative and lymph congesting.
- Chronic Digestive Imbalances like constipation and diarrhea due to irritated intestinal villi are classic causes of lymph congestion. As the majority of the lymph in the body surrounds the gut (Gut Associated Lymphatic Tissues or GALT), the quality of the villi are critical for proper lymph flow, detoxification, assimilation and immunity.
- Iodine Deficiency is also a common cause of lymphatic congestion. Iodine protects us from a toxic environment and supports the lymph at the cellular level. (link to nascent iodine)
Hydrate to De-congest and Cleanse Your Lymph
One of the most common causes of lymph congestion is dehydration. Water and only water can adequately re-hydrate the body. The best lymph moving re-hydration technique is to sip hot water every 10-15 minutes throughout the day. Do it religiously for one day. If by the end of that day you are experiencing a dry mouth and are now thirsty for this once tasteless sip of hot water, this is a good indication you are dehydrated and your lymph is congested. If this happens, try this re-hydration therapy: sip hot water every 10-15 minutes for 2 weeks straight. Keep a thermos of hot water nearby to make it easy to follow this protocol.
In addition to sipping hot water as part of the lymph moving re-hydration technique, try to drink 1/2 your ideal body weight in ounces per day for two to three weeks as well. For example, if you weigh 140 lbs, drink 70 ounces of water (almost 9 glasses) per day.
Red foods are excellent for the lymph system, with beets being at the top of the lymph-moving list. Even one a day, grated, raw or cooked, with a little lemon and Dijon mustard is a tasty lymph-moving treat. Beets also have one other very important property – they thin the bile. Bile is responsible for about 80% of the immune response in the gut, it regulates the stool, digests good fat and gets rid of bad fat.
(3/15/11) Protection From Radiation
So far what has been released from the Fukushima reactor was radioactive cesium. Trace amounts of radioactive iodine were found very close to the reactor itself but for the moment, the issue is cesium, not iodine. Cesium is very different from iodine. It explodes on contact with moisture. So, the first preventative measure, in the event of fallout, is to stay indoors and the second is to wear a wet facemask when going out.
The problem is that radioactive cesium is treated by the body as if it were potassium rather than iodine so it accumulates in the muscles and reproductive system and later moves into the liver and kidneys and from thence to all parts of the body.
However, the logic for blocking cesium uptake is basically the same as for radioactive iodine. Fill the body’s need for potassium so that cesium is rejected. Or, if it is taken up, it can be ejected by providing the body with high quality potassium.
A potassium deficiency would tend to make one more receptive to radioactive hazards posed by cesium. The first step is therefore to correct any deficiencies by ingesting adequate amounts of potassium. Early warning signs of potassium deficiency would include dry skin and some muscle weakness. Since potassium is abundant, deficiencies are usually caused by fluid loss, such as excessive use of diuretics. Potassium regulation is affected by magnesium; one early warning symptom of magnesium deficiency is muscle spasms. High on the list of recommended magnesium rich foods are sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, leafy green vegetables and black beans.
The real issue, however, is maverick electrons. This is what sets off the chain reactions that lead to tissue damage and degeneration. So, we need radioprotective foods and supplements such as: kelp, ginseng, ashwaganda (recently found to regrow nerves), chlorella, zeolites, fulvic acid, nascent iodine, reishi mushroom, chyawanprash, sea salt (also salty miso), botanical (plant-derived) vitamin C such as Pure Radiance C, magnesium (chlorophyll), selenium (brazil nuts), the tonic Pacifi Ka, and coconut butter.
For those who are looking for parallels between Fukushima and Chernobyl, it will behoove us to note that the million or so deaths attributed to the Chernobyl disaster were mostly due to prolonged exposure, over many years, to cesium. The very first deaths were due to radioactive iodine but cesium made its way into the soil where it was taken up by plants and later the animals that foraged on the plants.
Lastly, the only ingredient that runs out Radiation that has already been impregnated into the body is Vitamin B3 = Niacin = Nicotinic Acid. Those of you who have taken Niacin have experienced the “Flush” that goes along with taking it. That flush was Radiation running out of the body, and can not only be an old Sunburn turning on and blowing, but can also be doses of Radiation you received in the past blowing out of your body. There is a protocol called the Purification Rundown that is the best for terminatedly handling higher levels of Radiation already received, but this should only be done under full supervision by those qualified to deliver this rundown. During this rundown which can take up to a month to complete, one can safely take up to 5,000 Mg of Niacin. Doing this in your own home, the maximum level should not be more than 500 Mg taken twice a day as Niacin can turn on a full blown detox.
(Information courtesy of Ingrid Naiman and Doc Shillington)
http://www.ingridnaiman.com/subscription_lists/chronological_index.html
- Name: Iodine
- Symbol: I
- Atomic Number: 53
- Atomic Mass: 126.90447 amu
- Classification: Halogen
- Crystal Structure: Orthorhombic
- Density @ 293 K: 4.93 g/cm3
- Color: blackish
- Date of Discovery: 1811
- Discoverer: Bernard Courtois
- Name Origin: From the Greek word iôdes (violet)
- Uses: required in humans
- Obtained From: sodium and potassium compounds
RDA: The RDA for iodine (2000) are as follows: 0-6 months – 110 mcg; 7-12 months – 130 mcg; 1-8 years – 90 mcg; 9-13 years – 120 mcg; 14+ years – 150 mcg; pregnant women – 220 mcg; lactating women – 290 mcg. Whitaker Recommendation: 150 mcg. SONA recommendation: 45 mcg (as iodide).
What It Is: In ancient China as early as 3,000 BC, burnt sponges and seaweed were used to treat goiter, a swelling of the thyroid gland often caused by iodine deficiency. In Greece nearly 2,500 years later, Hippocrates described using the same treatment. The element iodine was discovered by French chemist Bernard Courtois in the nineteenth century. As he was touring a gun powder factor, he noticed purple vapors rising from the heating vats where gunpowder was being prepared. Seaweed ash was being used as a source of sodium carbonate. Upon further investigation, Courtois discovered that the seaweed ash contained another mineral that was responsible for the violet vapors. Courtois used the Greek word, iodes, which means violet, to name this new mineral. Iodine was the second mineral established as essential to human life, after iron in the previous century.
Our bodies contain 20 to 30 milligrams of iodine. Approximately three quarters of this is found in the thyroid gland, while the remainder is distributed throughout the body, mostly in the fluid that bathes our cells. The estimated intake in the United States is between 64 and 677 micrograms per day – a wide range because of widely varying soil conditions, fertilizer use, and food processing. Areas in the United States in which iodine deficiency is most common are called “goiter belts,” and include the Midwest, the Pacific Northwest, and the Great Lakes region. Switzerland, Central America, the mountainous regions of South America, New Zealand, and the Himalayas also suffer a high incidence of goiter owing to low-iodine soil. Since the introduction of iodized table salt, the incidence of goiter has fallen dramatically. For many individuals, the most important dietary source of iodine is iodized salt, 1 gram of which supplies about 76 micrograms of iodine. 70 percent of ingested iodine is excreted in the urine.
Over the last several decades iodine levels in our food supply have fallen dramatically. In 1940, the typical diet in this country provided roughl 800 mcg of iodine daily. By 1995, it had decreased to only 135 mcg. To further complicate matters, practically every public water system in this country uses chlorine, and many add fluoride too. Both of these agents interfere with the utilization of iodine and make deficiencies more prevalent. Fluoride molecules compete with the uptake of iodine and drastically slow the production of essential thyroid hormones, even at the very low concentration of 1 part per million, the dilution recommended for fluoridation in the water supply. The problems documented to occur with fluoride consumption are increased chromosome damage, increased cancer rates, side effects from interactions with prescription and over-the-counter medications, and neurological problems. Also, thousands of studies have demonstrated that the symptoms of fluoride poisoning are identical to that of thyroid dysfunction due to iodine deficiency.
Major Functions:
Thyroid Gland. As indicated by its high concentration in the thyroid gland, iodine is important for the proper functioning of that gland. Specifically, it is a necessary constituent of the thyroid hormones (the thyroid adding iodine to the amino acid tyrosine to create its hormones), which are used to regulate physical and mental growth, the functioning of the nervous system and muscles, circulatory activity, and the metabolism of all nutrients. One of these hormones is thyroxin, which influences the size and functioning of the thyroid gland, and in turn regulates the basal metabolism, the ability of the body to oxidize or burn up its waste products.
Sexual Development. The link between normal thyroid functioning, where iodine is needed to form the iodine-containing hormone thyroxine and normal sexual development is very close. Thus, in conditions such as cretinism in human beings, which is due to a disturbed iodine metabolism, the unfortunate sufferer is usually sterile, has delayed maturation of the genitalia, and invariably fails to develop normal sexual vigor. When thyroidectomy, ie removal of the thyroid gland, is performed on young birds and mammals, the animal stays in an infantile state for a long time, and gonads and secondary characters are developed very much later than is normally the case. The administration of the iodine-containing hormone thyroxine to bulls, boars, and rams that have shown little sexual desire results in a marked improvement in libido. Thyroidectomy, on the other hand, results in loss of libido, and in cows a complete lack of estrus, although neither spermatogenesis nor ovulation are impaired. In the field, cows on iodine-fertilized pastures had stronger heat and were more fertile, conceiving in fewer copulations, than those on normal pastures. Apart from its part in influencing estrus, iodine is also important in the intrauterine development of the mammalian embryo. In iodine-deficient areas, abortions and stillbirths are common, and retention of the placenta is frequent. The gestation period may also be prolonged, and births may be difficult. In humans the greatest iodine requirements appear to be linked to the phase of sexual development in females. The increased demands for thyroidal function which are known to be associated with menstruation, pregnancy, and lactation, may well explain the observed higher incidence of goiter and thyroid disease in women. The ovaries contain a high level of iodine, but this is lower before puberty and after menopause. In human pregnancies there is an appreciable rise in the protein-bound iodine (PBI) of the blood. The significance of this is unknown, but if this rise does not take place, the pregnancy is apt to end in an abortion.
Other Uses. Recent data indicates that iodine may have functions in other parts of the body as well. For example, the results of a study of iodine-deficient children in China suggest that hearing loss may be an iodine-deficiency disorder. In addition, iodine supplements (as 2 tsp. or 10 tablets of kelp daily) are used in the event of a nuclear accident to prevent the absorption of radioactive iodine and strontium-90 by the thyroid gland, protecting against thyroid damage and possibly thyroid cancer. Iodine also stimulates circulation; promotes healthy hair, nails, skin and teeth; aids prevention of anemia; and is necessary for normal growth and development.
Complementary Nutrients: Vitamin E, Vitamin F (Essential Fatty Acids), Iron, Magnesium, Phosphorus, Potassium, Selenium.
Best Food Sources (per 100 g): Kelp (180,000 mcg), Sea Vegetables (62,000 mcg), Iodized Salt (10,000 mcg), Dulse (8,000 mcg), Most Beans (100 mcg), Sea Salt (95 mcg). While iodine is plentiful in the oceans and in foods derived from the sea, it is thinly and unevenly distributed in the earth’s crust. Most land vegetables are rather low in iodine, unless they are grown near the seacoast or in soils enriched with iodine-containing fertilizers. Consequently, many people – particularly those who live in mountainous regions or in the middle of the continent – develop iodine deficiencies. Despite the introduction of iodized salt in 1924 and its general use in developed countries, iodine deficiency remains one of the most prevalent mineral deficiencies.
Other Good Sources: Fruit Sources: Bananas, blueberries, watermelon. Vegetable Sources: Artichokes, asparagus, black walnuts, carrots, collards, cucumber with skin, green beans, lettuces, potato with skin, squash. Herbal Sources: Black walnuts, dulse, garlic, Irish moon, kelp, sarsaparilla, mustard, parsley.
Destructive Agents: Cooking (heat), food processing, soaking in water. Some foods contain a substance called a goitrogen, which decreases the production of thyroid hormones by preventing the utilization of iodine. Goitrogenic foods include rutabagas, strawberries, peaches, peanuts, soybeans, spinach, radishes, cabbage, turnips, mustard, and cassava root. Cooking usually inactivates goitrogens.
Signs Of Deficiency: Insufficient iodine often results in the disease of the thyroid gland called goiter, a condition in which the thyroid gland becomes greatly enlarged in an effort to compensate for insufficient hormone production. If the thyroid cannot overcome this insufficiency, symptoms of listlessness, lassitude, and sluggishness appear. Goiters are estimated to affect over 200 million people worldwide. In all but 4 percent of these cases, the goiter is caused by an iodine deficiency. Iodine deficiency is now quite rare in the United States and other industrialized countries, because of the addition of iodine to table salt. Adding iodine to table salt began in Michigan, where in 1924 the goiter rate was an incredible 47 percent. When the thyroid gland is diseased, the metabolism of both iodine and calcium is affected. Subnormal thyroid activity creates increased retention of calcium; and over-activity of the thyroid creates increased calcium excretion and a tendency to remain in negative calcium balance.
Other symptoms of deficiency may be nervous disturbances, headaches, tiredness, weakness, sensation of heaviness, anemia, obesity, altered pulse rate, low blood pressure, heart disease and high cholesterol, wrinkles and loss of skin tone, dry hair, mental slowness, irritability, cretinism in babies born to iodine-deficient women, physical and mental retardation.
Therapeutic Uses: Angina pectoris, arterio- and atherosclerosis, hyper- and hypothyroidism, arthritis, hair and skin problems, lack of vigor. Therapeutic dose of 100 to 1,000 mcg/day.
Related Diseases: Goiter, Cretinism, Hyperthyroidism, Hypothyroidism.
Toxicity From Overdose of Animal Or Synthetic Source: An intake of up to 1,000 micrograms of iodine per day is considered safe. The first signs that you are overdoing iodine could include a rash, depression, headaches, aggravation of acne, difficulty in breathing, a metallic taste in the mouth or nausea. Overly high levels of iodine result in symptoms among which nymphomania is very prominent. In thyrotoxicosis (Grave’s Disease) the high levels of thyroxine produced result in ‘a type of woman who is volatile, lively and temperamental, and who, if the disease is not too far advanced, is usually distinctly attractive to the male.’ Very high doses – 20,000 micrograms per day – can paradoxically cause a form of goiter called “iodide goiter.” This has been seen in certain groups of Japanese who consume great quantities of seaweed daily.
whisperingcedars 