Lugol’s

Lugol’s has a history that spans nearly 200 years. In that time it has gone from being in every first-aid kit and doctor’s bag to being almost unheard of. I remember using it to purify water in Cubs in the 1970s – I do not remember being warned of its over-use. Now it is considered scary as a medicine, supplement or skin treatment.

Iodine is my most recent chemical conversion (I think the last was MSM, two years ago) and I am 100% convinced that every household should have some. Lugol’s Solution is a mixture of potassium iodide and iodine in distilled water and it has been in use for nearly 200 years. Lugol’s is considered by iodine literate doctors and health experts to be the best, and most useful, form of iodine.

I have become pretty iodine informed in the last few months and I think that iodine supplementation is one of the most significant parameters that we can easily change to improve general health. It is an essential element, essential to so many processes. It is an element that modern farming has removed from the soil and thus billions of people over the world are biologically suboptimal due to this lacking.

It was added to bread and salt until the 1970’s and, even after my research, it remains a mystery as to why it was removed. What is clear to me is that there are now not really any vectors for iodine to get into our bodies from food. Moreover, there is a clear propaganda against this element and a suppression of its benefits to biology. The world is, to quote others, “iodinephobic”.

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I have 15% Lugol’s and take maybe about 4 drops a week (0.015 grams). This is orders of magnitude more iodine than the critically low RDA (0.00015 of a gram) and it is much less than the people taking a gram or more a week. I have been looking at the history of iodine and it seems people took it lots in the past, it was even in chewing gum for kids. Incidentally, the term “cretin” refers to an iodine-deficient child.

I am a member of a number of online iodine communities and the stories you hear of people taking loads and loads of iodine are insane.

Scary, but in a sense reassuring. People saying:

“My thyroid is swelling!”

“That is because it is so starved of iodine, it is swelling up to take as much iodine as possible in! Keep taking it! It will go down!”

Or:

“I feel terrible on this!”

“That is the toxins, like Bromine, which are being washed out of your cells by the new iodine! Keep taking it!”

And there are so many success stories. Maybe these two are success stories? The point is, many people take huge amounts of iodine and the science does back up the kinds of advice given above, counter-intuitive and scary, though it may seem.

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In conclusion, I think that taking Lugol’s is probably a good idea for most people, even as just a self-experiment for a month or two (As said, it’s great in a first aid kit, and will last indefinitely).

If you have been low on iodine for decades the change due to supplementation could be profound. Perhaps that low energy you experience was because of low iodine, therefore low thyroid hormone, therefore reduced mitochondrial energy production, therefore fatigue. Add the element, the process improves. This is just one of the many ways iodine optimisation might really give you a boost and benefit.

An elemental change in your wellbeing.

Thanks for reading!