Iodine, Thyroid Hormone Therapy and Breast Cancer

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[MedicalConspiracies] THYROID HORMONE THERAPY APPEARS TO

CAUSE BREAST CANCER (NEWS 2006)

 

 

 

THYROID HORMONE THERAPY APPEARS TO CAUSE BREAST CANCER

 

 

 

http://www.newswithviews.com/Howenstine/james47.htm

 

 

 

 

 

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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Dr. James A. Howenstine is a board certified specialist in internal

medicine who spent 34 years caring for office and hospital patients.

After 4 years of personal study he became convinced that natural

products are safer, more effective, and less expensive than

pharmaceutical drugs.

 

This research led to the publication of his book A Physicians Guide To

Natural Health Products That Work. Information about these products

and his book can be obtained from amazon.com and at

www.naturalhealthteam.com and phone 1-800-416-2806 U.S. Dr. Howenstine

can be reached by mail at Dr. James Howenstine, C/O Remarsa USA SB 37,

P.O. Box 25292, Miami, Fl. 33102-5292.

 

E-Mail: dr.jimhow