Bromine Content In Foods

[Cirion]

After learning the benefits of Iodine, and why (detoxing halogens such as Bromine), the more I learn, the more I am disgusted with how much we are poisoned by it.

538. Bromide ion (Pesticide residues in food: 1981 evaluations)

Some what of an older article, but if anything, the bromine content in foods is probably more now, not less.

This is why I believe large doses (at least 20 mg a day) of Iodine is required, just look at the huge amounts of Bromine we intake every day from this article... some people who have less than ideal food choices may be getting more than 20mg of Bromine a day (not to mention chlorine, and fluoride which is also bad news).

Clearly, 150 mcg a day of Iodine is simply not enough to displace all the toxic halogens we intake on a daily basis.

 

[burtlancast]

Makes so much sense that i wonder who would dispute the facts?

And it's true, 15 mg iodine/day is the strict requirement of the tissues: above, one starts getting detox benefits, As Guy Abraham explained it.

"Bromide gradually accumulates in the central nervous system."

 

[tankasnowgod]

I have been thinking about larger iodine doses again, too. It seems that the biggest potential problems are-

1. Possible Hyperthyroidism (either from extreme deficiency, or goiter)
2. Iodism, which I agree is likely detoxing bromide, flouride, or other toxins
3. Iodation of Unsaturated Fats. Truthfully, I don't know if this would even be a problem, but it is something Peat brought up.
4. Potential spiking of TSH. This would also be a concern of Peat's as TSH is a stress hormone independently of T4/T3 levels.

Number four might be prevented with adequate Vitamin D, Calcium or supplemental thyroid. burtlancast, interested in what your take is on the last two potential issues. I did run into some crazy hypo symptoms when I was doing high dose iodine, and that TSH spike might have been the issue.

 

[Cirion]

Not burtlancast, but the only concern from what I have read (and been experiencing, as I increase the dosage) is the worsening of some symptoms due to the liberation of halides both from the thyroid receptors but also from fat stores (your body stores a lot of halides in your body fat to get it away from the bloodstream), and once these halides are liberated into the bloodstream you can very easily get bromide poisoning symptoms (like today, I had some major brain fog that I couldn't explain, until I dosed up on vitamin C and salt which both help detox the bromide). My thoughts are that TSH is indeed elevated in a lot of cases, but that's because its your thyroid finally "turning on" after a long time of dormancy, and should level off eventually. My limited understanding is that high TSH is indeed caused by a sluggish metabolism/hypothyroid, so a chronically elevated TSH forever is not good, but an acute rise in TSH may or may not be bad. I think in this case, you can argue that it's good, showing that the thyroid is making an attempt to recover. Short term discomfort to realize long term health gains. It's too simplistic to take the immediate impact of taking iodine and expect it to instantly heal you. That's what the medical industry loves to do with their one-sided studies. The lugols iodine I got came with an e-book with some dosage tips, and it said that even with 50 mg iodine a day, it can take 6 months or even years to fully remove all the bromine/chlorine/fluorine and saturate the body with iodine. I can believe it, when you look at the attached article and see that you could be getting as much as 30 mg of bromine a day with a poor diet, over the span of years is a LOT of bromine.

I would hardly worry about hyperthyroidism unless you're otherwise healthy, with little to no bromide/chloride/fluoride in your body. Again, the more likely issue, is that you could cause a lot of damage by liberating too many toxic halides too quickly in the system, if anything, that's what should be the concern, and plenty of vitamin C and salt should be taken to help flush this out of the bloodstream and out of the body entirely.

I fail to understand the iodine phobia, as if it's better to risk being too low in iodine and high in bromine, than it is to be too low in bromine and "too high" in iodine. I am fairly confident in saying the latter situation is far preferable. Iodine probably won't make you feel better overnight, but it's not supposed to, it's supposed to first purge the bad halides from the system and THEN you will feel better. Just be smart about the dosage, and if the detox symptoms get too severe, back off a little while loading up on C and salt etc.

Think of it like cleansing the PUFA's from your body. These things take time, years even.

Just my 2c

 

[burtlancast]

burtlancast, interested in what your take is on the last two potential issues. .

1. About the TSH increase scare: from Brownstein's book:

WHY DOES TSH INCREASE WHEN STARTING IODINE THERAPY?
One of the most frequent e-mails I receive from physicians and laypeople is their concern
about TSH levels elevating after beginning iodine therapy. As previously mentioned, TSH is
released by the pituitary gland to stimulate the thyroid gland to produce thyroid hormone.
However, TSH has another function besides stimulating thyroid hormone production. It also
helps stimulate the body’s production of the iodine transport molecules–the sodium-iodide
symporter-NIS. Without adequate amounts of NIS, iodine would not be able to enter the cells
and be utilized.
In other words, the NIS is like a taxi cab that shuttles the iodine from the blood stream into
the thyroid cell in order for the cell to use the iodine to make thyroid hormone.
This concept is not hard to grasp. Let’s take the example of a patient who is iodine deficient.
This iodine-deficient patient’s body does not require a large amount of NIS since there is little
iodine that needs to be transported into the cells. However, when this individual begins to
supplement with iodine, the extra iodine now needs to be transported into the cells. One way the body will accomplish this is to increase the production of TSH to stimulate more NIS. In other words, when iodine supplementation is started, the body will produce more “NIS taxi cabs” to shuttle the iodine into the thyroid cell in order to produce thyroid hormone.
My experience has shown, when iodine supplementation has begun, an elevated TSH
without clinical signs of hypothyroidism (i.e., fatigue, hair loss, headaches, etc.) as well as
normal T3 and T4 levels does not indicate a hypothyroid condition. On the contrary, the elevated TSH is the body’s appropriate and necessary response to produce more NIS or “taxi cabs” to increase the transport of iodine into the thyroid cells. How long does TSH stay elevated? I have found that TSH may remain elevated for up to 6 months before lowering to normal.
How high do TSH levels rise? The normal TSH level ranges from 0.5-4.5mIU/L. I have
witnessed TSH levels elevated to 5-30mIU/L for a period of time–sometimes up to six months–before falling back to the normal range. Remember, if there are no clinical symptoms of thyroid problems and T3 and T4 levels are normal, it is doubtful that TSH elevation is sign of hypothyroidism. In this case, TSH elevation is normal and expected. The TSH will decline back to the reference range after the thyroid gland is saturated with iodine.

2. About iodated lipids:
since iodine combines with unsaturated fatty acids, isn't that a beneficial effect according to Peat ? The harmful unsaturated bonds get neutralized, the oxygen oxidation of the double bond is made impossible, and the inflammatory effect is stopped.

For the grace of god, why isn't Peat screaming from the top of his lungs to start supplementing iodine?

 

[Amazoniac]

For the grace of god, why isn't Peat screaming from the top of his lungs to start supplementing iodine?

burtlan, even David admits that it's risky:
Interview with Holistic Doctor David Brownstein - thyroid-info.com

[..]iodine can aggravate autoimmune thyroid conditions. Iodine supplementation in those that have an autoimmune thyroid problem can be akin to pouring gas over a fire. However, with hypothyroid conditions that are not autoimmune in nature, iodine-containing foods can actually help the thyroid function better.

 

[Cirion]

Hmm. He says he cured both of his daughters who had Hashimoto's at another point in time using his Iodine protocol. I will try to find out where I read this and post it later. That said, it is probably wise to find a knowledgeable Dr. if you do have a severe condition.

I've ordered his book so I can better inform myself.

Regardless, the point stands that there is simply no way to fix Hypo without making your thyroid glands working properly (unless you wanna supplement T4/T3 for life), and there is no way to do that without restoring Iodine levels, which is basically impossible to do without supplementing it because of how many other toxic halogens we intake on a daily basis, plus the fact that the body uses way more than 150 mcg of Iodine a day.

In any case, most of us don't have full blown Hashimoto's. If I had to guess, I would be willing to bet the cause of Hashimoto's is excessive halogen intake of Flourine, Chlorine, Bromine, & an extreme lack of iodine, and the body starts to set up antibodies to resist anything bonding to the gland at that point, even Iodine. I suppose I could see how in this case, you may have to ease into it, and not start at the larger dosages, because in this scenario not only do you have to deal with the antibodies, but you also have to deal with the VERY large amount of displaced bromine/chlorine/fluorine atoms that will cause extreme toxicity symptoms. I was basically able to jump to 50+ mg a day, but someone with Hashi's may have to start as low as say, 500 mcg (or even less), then 1 mg, taking slow baby steps to 50mg, etc... all under the guidance of a Dr. who tests you along the way to make sure the antibodies from Hashi's don't overwhelm you (In Hashi's, the goal is probably to slowly bring down the level of the antibodies, which, I think *should* slowly drop down as you cleanse yourself of the halides and introduce Iodine, but much like diabetes, it is not something that gets cured overnight) so in that sense Hashi's is to Iodine as Diabetes is to Sugar... neither sugar nor Iodine is the devil... BUT the devil is in the details, if you will

*EDIT* found the quote, was a reply to some guy on his website, and likely in his book as well (Will find out when I read it)

David Brownstein
19 Mar 2014


Judy,
I have two daughters with Hashimoto’s. One now has no sign of it, the other’s antibodies are down 90%. Yes, you can get rid of it with the proper treatment plan.
DrB

From:
Dr Brownstein | How to Find an Iodine-Knowledgeable Health Care Provider

 

[Amazoniac]

Not sure if this was posted before:

- Biological half-life of bromide in the rat depends primarily on the magnitude of sodium intake

"The parallel course of the excretion rates of bromide and sodium ions was demonstrated in adult male and female rats administered simultaneously with potassium 82Br-bromide and 24Na-sodium chloride. The animals were exposed to various intakes of sodium ions accompanied with five different anions: Br-, Cl-, HCO3-, ClO4-, and SCN-. Regardless of the anion accompanying the sodium ion, the excretion rates of 82Br- and 24Na+ ions were proportional to the magnitude of sodium intake in the animals. Hence, we have proved our hypothesis that the biological half-life of bromide depends on the magnitude of sodium intake rather than on the intake of chloride."

"The only exception was the biological half-life of bromide in male rats in the third experimental group. These animals were characterized by enormously long biological half-life of bromide, markedly different from the short half-life of sodium in this group. Most probably, an immediate cause of this discrepancy was the large amount of administered bicarbonate ions that altered the blood acid-base equilibrium and produced alkalosis in the animals. The kidneys of these animals obviously excreted the surplus bicarbonate ions at the expense of bromide and chloride ions. Therefore, the discrepant values obtained in these animals maintained under nonphysiological conditions were omitted in Figures 1 and 2."

Spoiler: Figure Uno