Iodine and ADHD
David Brownstein, M.D. is a Board-Certified family physician and is one of the foremost practitioners of holistic medicine. He is the Medical Director of the Center for Holistic Medicine in West Bloomfield, MI. Dr. Brownstein has lectured internationally to physicians and others about his success in using natural hormones and nutritional therapies in his practice. Visit Dr. Brownstein's website at www.drbrownstein.com. The following is an excerpt explaining Iodine and ADHD from his book Iodine: Why You Need It. Why You Can’t Live Without It. 4th edition, 2009, page 198-200.
“As previously mentioned, ADHD is being diagnosed at a pandemic to near epidemic rate. Why would ADHD be occurring at such a high rate? There is no question that if Big Pharma has a drug available to treat an illness, it will promote, through direct-to-consumer advertising, a campaign to increase the awareness and utilization of the drug in order to maximize profits. I believe ADHD is over-diagnosed and over treated. However, many educators that have been teaching for a number of years report an increase in ADHD behaviors during their tenure. Something is clearly going on in many children today that is not allowing them to focus properly and causing them to act out with inappropriate behavior.
I don not believe that ADHD is a condition caused by a lack of a mood-altering drug such as Ritalin® or Concerta ®. I believe ADHD is a condition caused in large part from nutritional and hormonal imbalances as well as toxicities.
I have found good results in treating ADHD children – as well as other children with behavioral and emotional problems – with nutritional therapies and helping them detoxify.
One of the most successful nutritional therapies in this population is to correct iodine deficiency. My experience has shown iodine deficiency to be present in over 96% of the nearly 5,000 patients that have been tested in my office. This includes the testing of many children. Though I do see many more adults than children, I have found iodine deficiency occurs in children in the exact same frequency that it occurs in adults.
Italian researchers compared 16 women from an iodine deficient area of Italy to 7 women from a higher iodine area. All the women were pregnant. The women from the iodine deficient area had a reduced thyroid hormone (total T4 and free T4) with elevated TSH as compared to the higher iodine area. The researchers concluded, ‘It is hypothesized that the imbalance of maternal thyroid hormone homeostasis during pregnancy as a consequence of endemic iodine deficiency may be responsible for the impaired psychoneurological development observed in children from that area. Appropriate iodine and/or thyroxine prophylaxis to women in that may prevent the neurobehavioral, cognitive, and motor compromise of that population.’
Further research found higher levels of ADHD in the children of women who lived in an iodine deficient area as compared to women who lived in an iodine sufficient area. After 10 tears of follow-up, researchers found that ADHD was diagnosed in 11/16 (69%) in the iodine deficient area versus 0 0/11 in the iodine sufficient area. Furthermore, there was an 11 point decline in IQ in those children born in the iodine deficient are as compared to the children born in the iodine sufficient area. An 11 point decline in IQ can mean the difference between a successful child and a troubled child.”
Iodine therapy may not only explain ADHD but be an effective treatment as well.
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