Where did you get the information that 50mg is the reccomended dose of Iodine per day?
I take Vita Complex pills, which contain a lot of vitamins and minerals, including iodine. And on the back of the package it says that 75mg of iodine (included in one pill) is only 50% RDA (recommended daily amount). That means that total recommended dose is 150mg, so you got it a bit wrong there.

By the way, the pills I mentioned, Vita Complex, are pretty great. I used to catch cold every week, and now I've been completely healthy since december. They really boost your immunity system tremendously. They're made in US, but cost about 8 euro here in EU, which is pretty cheap.
By the way, they are pretty strong, so I take only half a pill every day. That means I get about 37mg of iodine per day (which I guess is a bit closer to the dosage that OP suggested).

Wow, where is all the hate coming from?

Im not trying to sell anything, im just trying to help people.

I have read into that stuff for half a year and compared studys and doctors results. Of course it is much more complicated and reactions can differ, but it is common sense to me that when you are unsure or had weird reactions in the past, you start slow with lower amounts or research it more yourself.

Im taking 50mg a day, since around 6 month now, im feeling fine, and i don't give much about what a company like merck says. It's not like these companys are out to help people, they want to make money.

I also should clarify that you need the proper form of iodine. Im not sure milk has the right one, but i will digg into it and clarify most of that stuff later, im a little busy at the moment.

But i want to make one thing clear, it is not possible to poison yourself with the amount i suggested, even if you should get plenty from another source already. But a system can be messed up and react weird to things that are normally healthy for us, so use common sense and test with lower amounts first.

I had forgotten how they even have to label stuff with, don't put your dog into the microwave. I will update it later to make sure people are careful .

All I can say is when the body needs something, it craves for it.
I have 2nd kind hypothyroidism (pituitary gland not producing the hormones that activates the thyroid, not a messed up thyroid itself), and I used to eat salt like mad before being diagnosed, and also craved seafood high in iodine, like sea urchins. I ate so much of those spiky dudes that I can't eat them anymore! Yuk.
Now I'm taking sodic levothyroxin and my life changed radically (depression, being tired all the time, sleeping over 16 hours everyday, extreme cold and very bad hair and skin went gone).
I still crave salt time to time, and it's just the time when my nails start to flake and I can't get up well in the morning: time to go to my doctor and get bloodtests to calibrate the levothyroxin dose.

Another example is that I can't drink milk because there's an enzyme that produces me allergies, an enzym that when milk is processed, in form of cheese, yogurth, etc. is destroyed, so milk is forbidden for me. It makes me feel like sh** for weeks. However, time to time i NEEDED to drink some. Recently I've discover that those cravings are because I was getting a low dose of calcium. Started to eat more cheese and yogurth aside of a supplement (that also contains vitamin D) and I've never felt like drinking milk again.

As I said before, when you body lacks something, it tells you. If you want to rise your iodine levels just... because you want, then seaweeds are the key (as someone said before too). Go to your local asian market and try furikake, that's sesame seeds, seaweeds, sea salt and sometimes egg, with white rice if you're lazy and don't wan't to make your own sushi. Nom!

EDIT: terrible grammar and spelling, sorry

[edit on 8-4-2010 by Caggy]

My gf's mother was complaining about her throat or something being swollen I can't remember where exactly but my gf being a natural healing extremist quickly found that it was a thyroid problem specifically lack of iodine. A quick interigation of her mother found that she had been eating some kind of weird food that just so happens to soak up iodine from your body. So we tell her all this and she being a stubborn women goes to the doctor who says nothing about iodine and prescribes some bs pill that brings the swelling down temporarily and only slightly improves her overall condition, maybe a routine consumption of this pill will keep it tolerable but she would then be tied to the hospital "machine" for....check, 1 more profitable problem. K, so anyway my gf forced her to take a bunch of iodine and her problem went away that day and did not come back, she does not need that stupid prescription. Some "doctors" we got.

Want to know another vitamin that they have put on the ban list because of "dangerous levels of cyanide"? B17, the very vitamin you can find in apple seeds, the part we so foolishly throw away, eat them they won't kill you, I have been for a long time. If you think Iodine is good for protecting you from cancer then B17 wins the medal in the cancer department. Ofcourse cyanide is a dangerous poison but what makes the cyanide in the b17 different is that it doesn't enter your body as typical cyanide, it is a different compound called Laetrile not until it encounters a large concentration of beta-glucosidase in a cell does it break down to form two molecules of glucose, one molecule of benzaldehyde and one molecule of hydrogen cyanide which ofcourse destroys that cell. Because cancer cells have 3000 times as much beta-glucosidase then all other cells, it seems that B17 is specifically suited to prevent and treat cancer.

Very interesting thread.
Im familiar with Fluoride and the (not good) effects of consuming it but I had never heard that iodine could be 'good for you' if consumed in the correct quantities.

Should it be made available in regulated and measured pill form?

Most table salts in North America today are Iodised. Considering the amount of salt in most North American foods, one would think that our Iodine levels would be fine. I wonder if excessive amounts of salt counteract the benefits of Iodizing it in the first place?

Dear NIGHTFLOWER , thank you for posting such an informative thread. The amout of Iodine I am ingesting in my usual daily "Holland and Barrett" ABC Plus as it is called is 150 microgrammes which is the permitted daily in take recomended by the EU inquesition presently looking into these suppliments to protect people against possible over dose problems that might occur in certain people due to personal metabolic differences. It is interesting that we must not take too much Iodine too soon. Like as you stated too much Iodine too soon will flush out of the system a wave of toxins which cause side affects. It is not that taking the Iodine is the problem. We must take the Iodine. However people generally might get side affects from the toxins being flushed out and might misunderstand that it is the Iodine causing a side affect. These side affects are only temporary whilst the toxins are being flushed out. Presumably once the system has flushed out all the toxins then the side affects will stop. Obviously taking adequate Iodine has be in the context of a whole lot of other minerals and vitamins that are equally as important. I feel that so long as I am taking the "Holland and Barrett" ABC Plus then I am taking enough of all the essential minerals and vitamins. One very interesting thing that we in Europe endured was the CHERNOBYL disaster. We were given Iodine tablets to counter the radioactive strontium isotope which was replacing the calcium in our bones and teeth. So by taking the Iodine tablets we were protected. Ever since the CHERNOBYL disaster I have been using SEA SALT on my dinning table, because it contains Iodine, where as mineral table salt lacks Iodine. Which is why they now add Iodine to supplies of mineral table salt.

One important thing to mention is that Microgramme is abbreviated "ug" where as the abbreviation for milligramme is "mg". The EU dayly recommended quantity of Iodine is 150 microgramme. Microgrammes are smaller than milligrammes.

We must try to avoid misunderstandings with regard to such measurements. Because misunderstanding might result in injury. So if in any doubt and as a general rule hopefully you will talk with your medical practitioner ? Here in the UK every citizen is by law entitled to a National Health Service registered General Practioner. We are thus fortunate. In the USA I see that President Obama is bringing in a similar system to give all USA citizens similar protections.

[edit on 8/4/2010 by CAELENIUM]

My story.
I live in Poland.
About 2 weeks ago I noticed swollen throat.
I was lucky because just about next day My Mother told Me our Neighbour story - a Woman had problems with throat - she even could not speak. Stupid Doctors were wrong. Finally she got angry and has ordered some examination and it showed her thyroid was the cause.
Since then she found special Doc and she takes some medication and is better.

But back to me. when I heard this story I began to think. I started to read about thyroid. I found the connection between iodine and thyroid.
I bought Kelp and also some special iodine rich salt.
Since I am taking it my throat is better.

For those not sure about this iodine deficiency threat I recommend go to Dr. Mercola site. He explains a lot. He is not this kind of stupid medician people usually have arround. He recommends taking natural form of iodine - kelp.

By the way in the past I happened to take this Lugola internally and it did not kill me either.