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Page 26 | Abby's Magazine - www.AbbysHealthAndNutrition.com Abby's Magazine - Volume 4 Issue 3 | Page 33 e health benefits of reducing salt intake have been well established. Millions of Americans are slashing their use of salt to protect themselves against high blood pressure and cardiovascular disease. But by cutting our salt intake we are also cutting our iodine intake, which is why mean urinary iodine levels (a measure of iodine sufficiency) plummeted by more than half over a 20-year period. e danger of low dietary iodine is further compounded by your body's decreased ability to utilize it, the result of contamination by a ubiquitous environmental toxin called perchlorate. Originally developed for explosives and rocket fuel, 18 perchlorate now pervades ground water and food supplies throughout the US. It's even used as a flavor-enhancer in certain foods. Perchlorate blocks the thyroid gland's ability to absorb and utilize dietary iodine, an effect that is of concern when iodine intake drops off. e US recommended dietary allowance (RDA) for iodine is 150-290 micrograms (mcg) for adults, while the Food and Nutrition Board of the Institute of Medicine has set the tolerable upper limit at 1,100 mcg. ese guidelines may be inadequate to address certain health conditions. ey were first established as sufficient only to prevent goiter. Daily doses for optimal health of 3,000-6,000 mcg have been used without side effects in studies of people with other iodine deficiency-related health conditions such as polycystic breast disease. By way of comparison, the average daily Japanese consumption of iodine ranges from 5,280 to 13,800 mcg of iodine, with no harmful effects and a host of benefits. e Japanese experience is shedding new light on the importance of iodine, not only for thyroid health, but on other body functions as well. In particular, compelling evidence is emerging about the role of iodine in maintaining breast health, a major concern for millions of American women. T h e E m e r g i n g R o l e o f I o d i n e i n B r e a s t H e a l t h Iodine deficiency is rapidly emerging as a major risk factor for breast cancer. Human breast tissue and breast milk contain higher concentrations of iodine than the thyroid gland itself, which contains just 30% of the body's iodine stores. Breast tissue is rich in the same iodine-transporting proteins used by the thyroid gland to take up iodine from the blood. e evolutionary reasons for this are clear: iodine is essential to the developing newborn brain, so the mother's body must have a direct means of supplying iodine to the nursing infant. Iodine plays an important role in the health of women's breast tissue. In the presence of chemicals and enzymes found in breast tissue, iodine has been shown to exert a powerful antioxidant effect equivalent to vitamin C. Iodine-deficient breast tissue exhibits chemical markers of elevated lipid per- oxidation, one of the earliest factors in cancer development. Iodine-deficient breast tissue also shows alterations in DNA and increases in estrogen receptor proteins. Coupled with iodine deficiency-induced increases in circulating estrogen levels, these changes can substantially increase the risk of breast cancer in women with low iodine levels. Iodine also helps regulate levels of the stress hormone cortisol and contributes to normal immune function. Abnormal cortisol levels and deficient immune function are significant contributors to the risks of breast cancer; women with fibrocystic breast disease may also suffer from elevated cortisol levels. Taken together, these biological factors explain the well- known link between iodine deficiency and thyroid disease, thyroid cancer, and breast cancer, all of which predominate in post-menopausal women. e link between iodine consumption and breast cancer is most evident when you compare the Japanese and Western diets against cancer incidence. Japanese women consume a diet high in iodine-rich seaweed, which provides them with an iodine intake 25 times higher than the average American woman's. Japanese women also have breast cancer rates roughly one-third of those found in American women, a difference that disappears in Japanese women who immigrate to the US, where they consume considerably less seaweed.