THYROID HORMONE THERAPY APPEARS TO CAUSE BREAST CANCER

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THYROID HORMONE THERAPY APPEARS TO CAUSE BREAST CANCER

 

By Dr. James Howenstine, MD.

July 27, 2006

NewsWithViews.com

Medical journals and textbooks typically portray iodine as an unimportant

substance which should be taken in small amounts[1] because of it's dangers.

Actually approximately one third of humanity has iodine deficiency.

When humans lack iodine the thyroid gland enlarges (goiter), nodules appear

in the thyroid gland and over a period of time cancer may appear in a thyroid

nodule. Conventional medicine treats thyroid gland enlargement with thyroid

hormone without considering the possibility that the hypothyroidism and goiter

may be due to lack of iodine. This failure to diagnose and treat iodine

deficiency can lead to an increased risk of breast cancer and the longer the

diagnosis is missed the greater the chance that breast cancer will occur. Women

taking thyroid hormone appear to be twice (12.1%) as likely to develop breast

cancer as women not using thyroid hormone (6..2%). Women who had taken

thyroid hormone for 15 years had a 19.5% incidence of breast cancer whereas

women

who have only taken thyroid hormone for 5 years had only a 10% incidence of

breast cancer. Why is this?

 

The essential trace element iodine may be the most important least

publicized mineral in existence. Iodine is the only element needed in hormones

and in

the production of hormones. The iodine containing hormones are involved in

the creation of embryos, development of brain function, growth, metabolism and

maintenance of body temperature. This means that proper amounts of thyroid

hormone, estrogen, progesterone, testosterone, insulin, growth hormone etc. can

not be made when iodine is lacking from the body. One third of all

individuals on Earth are functioning with subnormal levels of iodine. Low intake

of

iodine is the leading cause for intellectual deficiency in the world.

There is strong evidence that iodine lack predisposes to breast cancer. One

out of seven women in the U.S. has deficiency of iodine proven by urine

iodine screening tests (urine I less than 50 ug/L). This is the same incidence

for

breast cancer seen in U.S. women. Without bothering to check urine for

iodine, physicians visited by a woman with a goiter or symptoms of

hypothyroidism

are routinely prescribing thyroid hormone therapy.

Hintze et al[2] compared the results of 400ug/L of Iodine with 150ug of T4

(synthyroid) for 8 months and then four months after stopping therapy. The

results clearly favored iodine therapy. Both treatments led to similar

suppression in the size of the goiter. However, four months later the size of

the

thyroid had returned to pre-treatment levels in the group treated with T4

hormone. The group who had received iodine therapy continued to have normal

sized

thyroid glands four months after therapy was stopped. Several investigators

have concluded that iodine lack is a probable cause for breast cancer in

women.[3] [4] [5] [6] [7]

Demographic studies in Japan and Iceland revealed that both countries have a

high intake of iodine and low incidences of goiter and breast cancer. In

Mexico and Thailand where iodine intake is low there is a high incidence of

goiter and breast cancer.[8] Thyroid gland size measured by ultrasound is

significantly larger[9] in Irish women with breast cancer than control women.

Administration of thyroid hormone to iodine deficient women appears to

increase the risk of developing breast cancer. In a group of women undergoing

screening mammograms the incidence of breast cancer[10] was twice as high in

the

women taking thyroid hormone. for hypothyroidism (probably caused by iodine

lack) than in women not taking thyroid supplements. The mean incidence was

6.2% in controls and 12.1% in women on thyroid hormones. The incidence of

breast

cancer was twice as high in women taking thyroid hormone for more than 15

years (19.5%) compared to those on thyroid hormones for only 5 years (10%).

In the state of Michigan, during a period of iodine supplementation in bread

(1924-1951) the prevalence of goiter diminished from 38.6% to 1.4%. Of

interest the incidence of breast cancer remained unchanged during this time

frame.

This information was used to suggest that iodine supplementation had no

effect on the incidence of breast cancer. However, Ghent and Eskin were able to

show in women and female rats that the amount of iodine needed to protect

against fibrocystic disease of the breast and breast cancer was at least 20 to

40

times greater[11] than the iodine needed to control goiter.

In the 1960s mandated iodine containing dough was equivalent to the RDA of

150 ug per slice of bread. At that time the incidence of breast cancer was

only 1 in 20.[12] In the past 20 years the use of iodine supplementation in

bread was eliminated and a goiter producing substance toxic to the thyroid

gland

(bromine) was introduced as replacement for iodine. The risk for breast

cancer is now 1 in 8 and this risk is increasing by one percent[13] each year.

The

decision to replace iodine in an iodine deficient population with a

goitrogen was illogical lacking in common sense. The damaging effects of

bromine on

thyroid tissue also appears to contribute to the development of auto-immune

diseases in the thyroid gland (Hashimoto's thyroiditis).

The mammary glands have a trapping system for iodine similar to that of the

thyroid gland. The breasts effectively compete with the thyroid gland for

ingested iodine. This distribution of iodine to both breast and thyroid gland

in

pubertal girls explains why goiter is 6 times more common in girls than

pubertal boys. The disappearance of iodine into breast tissue in women leads to

decreased ability to supply the thyroid gland with an adequate amount of

iodine. The development of a goiter in young girls indicates deficient

distribution of iodine to both breast and thyroid tissue. Treating such a

patient with

thyroid hormone is not sensible and appears to increase the risk of breast

cancer.

Study of radioiodine uptake in normals and women with fibrocystic breast

disease FDB reveals that the FDB breasts were able to take in 12.5% of the

iodine dosage compared to only 6.9% in normal breasts. This proves the

existence

of considerable iodine depletion in the breasts of women with FDB.

There is considerable evidence for an increased risk of thyroid cancer as

well as breast cancer in persons with iodine deficiency. Untreated iodine

deficiency leads to goiter, thyroid nodules and eventually some of these nodules

become malignant. The decreasing intake of iodine has resulted in an increase

in thyroid nodules and increase in thyroid cancer. In 2001 there were 19,500

new cases of thyroid cancer in the U.S. with 14,900 of these cases occurring

in women.

Iodine has a role in promoting general well being as well as protecting

against infections, degenerative diseases and cancer. Iodine promotes the

normal

killing of defective and abnormal cells (apoptosis). Thus, iodine helps the

body's surveillance system to detect and remove abnormal cells. Additionally,

the presence of iodine triggers differentiation away from the more dangerous

undifferentiated type of cell toward normal cells. The presence of adequate

levels of iodine in the body (Japanese diet with lots of sea vegetables and

fish) reduces reactive oxygen species (ROS). in the body which decreases the

oxidative burden in the body This results in slowing of degeneration disease

processes and decreasing the risk of cancer.

 

Nearly every physician in the United States will reach for a prescription

pad to order thyroid hormone when he sees a patient with goiter or symptoms of

hypothyroidism. This can be exactly the wrong thing to do if the patient has

deficient stores of iodine. Insist on obtaining a 24 hour urine collection

for iodine to eliminate iodine lack as the cause for your symptoms (values

below 50 ug/liter are abnormal). Thyroid hormone therapy in the presence of

iodine deficiency increases the risk of breast cancer and probably thyroid

cancer

as well. Endocrinologist, Dr. Guy Abraham, formerly of the U.C.L.A.

Department of Endocrinology, is convinced that everyone needs to be on iodine

therapy

until their iodine stores have been fully restored. After this time frame

periodic intake of iodine will help insure that the many body functions

requiring iodine run smoothly.

 

A dosage of two tablets of Iodoral twice daily for three months followed by

one Iodoral tablet daily for a year will restore iodine stores for most

persons. At that point periodic taking of an Iodoral tablet daily one month out

of

4 to 6 months etc. will be adequate to maintain iodine stores. Iodine stores

can be easily monitored by taking 4 Iodoral tablets (50 mg iodine) and

collecting a 24 hour urine sample for iodine content. If 80% of the ingested

iodine is found in the urine collection the iodine stores are normal. Iodoral

can

be obtained from Optimox Corp. Torrance, Cal. To purchase a referral from a

health care practitioner is needed.

Footnotes:

1, Abraham, Guy F. et al Orthoiodosupplementaion: Iodine Sufficiency Of The

Whole Body pg 1

2, Hintze, G. et al treatment of Endemic goiter due to iodine deficiency

with iodine, levothyroxine or both:results of a multicentre trial. European

Journal of Clinical Investigation, 19:527-534, 1989

3, Eskin B et al Mammary Gland Dysplasia in Iodine Deficiency JAMA ,

200:115-119. 1967

4, Eskin B Iodine and Mammary Gland Cancer Adv. Exp. Med. Biol., 91:293-304,

1977

5, Ghent, W. et al Iodine Replacement in Fibrocystic disease of the Breast

Can. J. Surg. , 36:453-460, 1993

6, Eskin B. et al Different Tissue Responses for Iodine and Iodidein Rat

Thyroid and mammary Glands Biol. Trace Element Research 49:9-19, 1995

7, Derry , D Breast Cancer and Iodine Trafford Publishing, Victoria B.C. ,

92, 2001

8, Finley JW., Bogardus, G.M., Breast Cancer and Thyroid Disease Quart.

Review Surg. Obstet. Gyn. 17:139-147, 1960

9, Smtyhe, P. , Thyroid Disease and Breast Cancer J. Endo. Int. ,

16:396-401, 1993

10, Ghandrakant, C. et al Breast Cancer Relationship to Thyroid Supplements

for hypothyroidism JAMA, 238:1124, 1976

11, Backwinkel, K., Jackson, A.S. Some Fearures of breast Cancer and Thyroid

Deficiency Cancer17:1174-1176 , 1964

12, Epstein, S.S., Sherman, D. Breast Cancer Prevention Program Macmillan ,

NY. 1998 pg 5

13, Ibid

© 2006 Dr. James Howenstine -

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