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Iodine: Body
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Iodine is an essential component of the thyroid hormones, triiodothyronine (T3) and thyroxine (T4), and is therefore essential for normal thyroid function. To meet the body's demand for thyroid hormones, the thyroid gland traps iodine from the blood and incorporates it into thyroid hormones that are stored and released into the circulation when needed. In target tissues, such as the liver and the brain, T3, the physiologically active thyroid hormone, can bind to thyroid receptors in the nuclei of cells and regulate gene expression. In target tissues, T4, the most abundant circulating thyroid hormone, can be converted to T3 by selenium-containing enzymes known as deiodinases. In this manner, thyroid hormones regulate a number of physiologic processes, including growth, development, metabolism, and reproductive function (1, 2).
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Iodine is a trace mineral required for human life. Humans require iodine for proper physical and mental development. It impacts cell respiration, metabolism of energy and nutrients, functioning of nerves and muscles, differentiation of the fetus, growth and repair of tissues, and the condition of skin, hair, teeth, and nails. Iodine is ... needed for the production of thyroid hormones. The thyroid (a small gland in the front of the neck), which contains 80% of the body's iodine pool, converts iodine into the thyroid hormones thyroxine (T4) and triiodothyronine (T3). These hormones are released into the bloodstream, controlling the body's metabolism.
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Iodine has an unusual excretion pattern in the urine. There are no reabsorption mechanisms or preservation mechanisms in the urinary tract to keep this element from excretion in the urine and hence loss from the body. Iodine is the trigger mechanism for apoptosis and it is imperative that a constant source of iodine in the urine be available. If the body was capable, and it is not, of holding the iodine inside and therefore allowing urine with no iodine to flow through the renal system, then the renal system would be deprived of iodine. This would immediately lead to abnormal cells and cancer. The Western diet contains nowhere near the levels of iodine needed to saturate the thyroid.
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Iodine is ... an adaptogen. Adaptogens are substances that help normalize various bodily functions. Usually, adaptogens are herbs like Rhodiola rosea or Cordyceps mushrooms. Now we’re seeing that iodine, so crucial to good health, may in fact be the ultimate adaptogen. Studies show that if you take enough iodine (100 to 400 times the RDA) it helps to regulate other body functions as well.
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Iodine ... induces apoptosis, programmed cell death. This process is essential to growth and development (fingers form in the fetus by apoptosis of the tissue between them) and for destroying cells that represent a threat to the integrity of the organism, like cancer cells and cells infected with viruses. Human lung cancer cells with genes spliced into them that enhance iodine uptake and utilization undergo apoptosis and shrink when given iodine, both when grown in vitro outside the body and implanted in mice. Its anti-cancer function may well prove to be iodine’s most important extrathyroidal benefit.
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Oral Iodine appears to be inactivated by combination with gastrointestinal contents. Absorption is poor due to rapid conversion of iodine to iodide. (Reynolds, 1989; Gilman et al., 1990). Inhalation Iodine is absorbed from the lungs, converted to iodide in the body, (ILO 1971). Pulmonary absorption of vapour may result in systemic poisoning (Gosselin et al., 1984). Dermal Only very small quantities of iodine are absorbed through an intact skin, (Reynolds, 1989).
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