Medical history charts the rise and fall and rise again of iodine’s place in thyroid and hormonal balance and its medical use in general. During the first half of the 20th century and in the old pharmacopeias, the recommendation for iodine supplementation was 12,500µg - 37,500µg (12.5 - 37.5mg) elemental iodine.

Iodine was used extensively among British and American physicians for both hypo- and hyperthyroidism (118). But research published in the USA in 1948 may have wrongly attributed the cause of hypothyroidism and goiter to the blocking of thyroid hormone synthesis by excess iodine (116) and may have led to the arbitrary definition of levels for daily iodine supplementation in 1969 of 200µg (0.2mg), where 2000µg (2mg) was deemed to be excessive (117).

This was published against the backdrop of the wholesale introduction of iodized salt as the standard for iodine supplementation in the 1950s, along with chlorine in drinking ater and other political/industrial dietary interventions for the supposed good of the general population.

The daily amount of iodide absorbed from iodized salt was 200-500 times less than the amount of iodine/iodide previously recommended widely among physicians in the USA.

“The man-made organic forms of iodine are extremely toxic, whereas the inorganic non-radioactive forms are extremely safe...however, the safe inorganic, non-radioactive forms were blamed for the severe side effects of organic iodine-containing drugs” (118).

More information can be found in the Seagreens® Summary for Healthcare Practitioners Iodine section.

The Summary for Healthcare Practitioners is an alphabetical guide to the daily use of Seagreens® products in the general population.

It is regularly updated on this website and may be viewed or downloaded by clicking here.