What is “high dose” iodine therapy?

If you are considering taking Iodoral or another iodine therapy to supplement your thyroid program you should consider what constitutes a high dose of iodine. The RDI or recommended daily intake for iodine is 100-200mcg or 1-2 mg of iodine daily. Any dose above this range, depending on who you ask, is technically high dose.

Optimal intake vs. RDA/RDI

The research papers referenced that you can find on our site under iodine research looked at indicators of optimal health in cultures that have diets high in iodine. The results of this work suggest that the optimal intake for iodine is between 11-12.5mg of elemental iodine daily. The works of Brownstein and Fleches et al. also indicate that simply restoring the optimal daily intake to 12.5mg did not result in normalizing the saturation test results or in alleviating many symptoms. Brownstein's book “Iodine, Why you need it Why you can't live without it” provides excellent explanations as to why this appears to be the case.

For our purposes, I define high dose as the following:

1. Any sudden increase in daily iodine intake greater than 6.25mg.

2. Daily iodine intake greater than 12.5mg.

3. Mega dose: Daily iodine intake greater than 50mg.

Why? Remember, if you are presently ingesting only dietary iodine and/or a multivitamin you are in the 1-2mg iodine per day. Starting out on 50mg of iodine would be a 25-50 times increase! This is a massive change with a mineral that is a stimulant and will cause significant detoxification of bromides, fluorides and heavy metals. Not everyone has trouble starting out on 50mg iodine, but in my experience, the risk of side effects isn't worth it. Go slow. I have spent many hours on the phone and email counseling people that have suffered the side effects of starting iodine to fast.

Any dose over 50mg should be supervised by a professional experienced in high dose iodine therapy.