Iodine deficiency ! - falling intakes - goitregens - competition bromine and fluorine

[R.B.]

Going back to the core issue of this board breast cancer.

There seems to be no easily findable (if any?) work looking at the effect of fluoride or perchlorate intake on breast cancer risk.

There is more work looking at iodine and breast cancer; but not a lot. This paper on iodine is interesting.

Odd bits of research, much of it old (I guess because funding for iodine research is limited - it cannot be patented) strongly suggest it is likely that iodine transporters are not the only mechanisms for the uptake of iodide / iodine so the whole issue of iodine probably has many more layers than we are currently aware of.

Interestingly and in a way unsurprisingly (babies need iodine) the hormones associated with pregnancy and lactation increase iodine transporter activity. A high proportion of breast cancers demonstrate increased iodine uptake; the question is how does low iodine affect the early and later development of BC. The abstract below suggest that iodine is preventative, and that many of those with BC are deficient in iodine and or have enlarged thyroids etc (low iodine is in general terms linked with increase in thyroid size it appears).

Iodine Alters Gene Expression in the MCF7 Breast Cancer Cell Line: Evidence for an Anti-Estrogen Effect of Iodine

http://www.medsci.org/v05p0189.htm

The high rate of breast disease in women with thyroid abnormalities (both dietary and clinical) suggests a correlation between thyroid and breast physiology [1-3]. In addition, women with breast cancer have larger thyroid volumes then controls [2]. Multiple studies suggest that abnormalities in iodine metabolism are the likely link [4-7]. Additionally, the impact of iodine therapy for the maintenance of healthy breast tissue has been reported in both animal [4-7] and clinical studies [8, 9] yet the mechanisms responsible remain unclear.

Iodide (I-) uptake is observed in approximately 80% of breast cancers as well as fibrocystic breast disease and lactating breasts; however, quantitatively, no significant iodide uptake is reported in normal, non-lactating breast tissue [10]. Clinical trials have demonstrated that women with cyclic mastalgia [9] or fibrocystic disease [8] can have symptomatic relief from treatment with molecular iodine (I2). Iodine deficiency, either dietary or pharmacologic, can lead to breast atypia and increased incidence of malignancy in animal models [11]. Furthermore, iodine treatment can reverse dysplasia which results from iodine deficiency [5]. Rat models using N-methyl-N-nitrosourea (NMU) and dimethyl-benz[a]anthracene (DMBA) to induce dysplasia and eventually carcinogenesis have shown that the presence of molecular iodine in the animal's diet can prevent tumor formation; yet, when iodine is removed from the diet, these animals develop tumors at rates comparable to those of control animals [5, 7]. These data suggest that iodine diminishes early cancer progression through an inhibitory effect on cancer initiating cells. . .

[R.B.]

Perchlorate intake in rats leads to alteration in breast tissue and earlier breast developmental issues. Yes they are using large amounts but it still demonstrates that iodine uptake is essential to breast health, and perchlorate is a blocker of iodine uptake in the breast so a risk exists from perchlorate we put into the environment, and especially so when combined with the issues of additional blocking fluoride chlorination nitrates food goitrogens etc


Arch Pathol Lab Med. 1979 Nov;103(12):631-4.
Age-related changes resembling fibrocystic disease in iodine-blocked rat breasts.
Krouse TB, Eskin BA, Mobini J.
Abstract

It has been reported that dietary restriction and chemical blockade of iodine causes histopathologic changes in peripubertal female rat breasts. This study extended the age range to include midreproductive life and perimenopausal rats; there is a wider spectrum of structural alterations that are associated with the older breast, with sodium perchlorate as the blocking agent. In 16-week-old rats, breasts showed general increased parenchymal activity and growth, regressing after removal of the block. In 42-week-old rats, breasts showed noticeable calcospherite deposition, intralobular fibrosis, and cystic changes resembling human fibrocystic disease. In 52-week-old rats, breasts exhibited atypical lobules cytologically, papillomatosis, sclerosing adenosis, calcifications, and a lobular transformation of a histologically dysplastic type. It is the older rat that experiments will more closely parallel the human condition.


http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/167953

Cancer Res. 1975 Sep;35(9):2332-9.
Rat mammary gland atypia produced by iodine blockade with perchlorate.
Eskin BA, Shuman R, Krouse T, Merion JA.
Abstract

Prior published work from our laboratory concluded that there was a need for appropriate metabolic activity of iodine in breast tissue for normal growth and development. Results from studies in rats that were made iodine deficient showed histological changes in the breasts that were atypical and dysplastic. These tissue findings were further affected by the presence of estrogen and thyroxine. These changes parallel the iodine uptake of the tissues, thus representing a difference in the utilization of iodine by the mammary glands. Using an ion blockade agent, sodium perchlorate, breast tissues lacking iodine were evaluated by both endocrine and histological techniques. A dose-response series was completed that showed that perchlorate therapy for 8 weeks at 400 mg/100 ml produced breast blockade by a reduction in iodine uptake of greater than 52% of the control. At these levels, the histological experimentation showed atypia and some pleomorphism of the cells, particularly in the glands of the lobules. Blockade was less effective in estrogen-treated groups. It is especially notable that both histological changes and uptake reduction were greatest in those breasts that had been rendered euthyroid by thyroxine replacement, thus clearly indicating the necessity of iodine itself for maintenance of normal breast development. By this blockade the responses of iodine inadequacy in the breast were shown to cause abnormal tissue changes relative to the percentage of the block obtained.

[R.B.]

The information below as to fluoride based pesticides is thought provoking; does anyone know if this is still an issue?

To put things into context a UK dietary survey http://www.food.gov.uk/science/resea...s#.UmuWAlOt_os found the highest fluorine levels were in the fish food group 1.9mg per Kg or 1.9 parts per million (Sorry got that wrong earlier ). Fish is generally regarded as a healthy food and a good source of iodine, which brings us back to the question is iodine deficiency rather than fluoride intake the primary issue (except in very young infants, because it seems breast milk production filters out most fluoride, and what are the implications of that).

(Perchlorate as a blocker may be a particular case as it is reported to be taken up better than iodine, which would explain why it appears to preferentially block iodine uptake; so upping iodine intake may help but not fully negate the effects of perchclorate)

This East African paper http://eurekamag.com/research/003/14...-in-africa.php (PDF can be downloaded free) confirms fish, both fresh and marine, contain significant amounts of fluoride and particularity in the skin, as apparently do some food stuffs there (Is that due to high levels of flouride in soils or water, and what implications does that have for the west; are we increasing soil levels through for example the use of coal, and or using treated water for husbandry or crop irrigation).

This paper looks at more northerly species. http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j...55123115,d.Yms Fluoride in the fillets is generally modest but again high is skin and bones. So sardines are likely to be a significant source of fluoride. Coastal populations in some countries such as Portugal ate sardines regularly. This paper looking at goiter in Europe says that it was rare in coastal Portuguese populations, http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j...55123115,d.Yms which brings us back to iodine, as well maybe as the importance of other marine nutrients including selenium and other minerals - we are back to complex interactions again !

Goiter is common in areas of East Africa, as apparently is fluorosis of the teeth; is this due to iodine deficiency or a high fluoride intake - most likely iodine deficiency I postulate.

The paper reports oyster tissue contained in the order of 240mg of fluorine per Kg! ( I am trying to check this figure as it seems very high - but the general precept still holds as it appears fish are in comparative terms high in fluoride, but also a source of iodine; figures on iodine levels in foods are not easy to find either !) I have not seen goitre or fluorosis being reported as a consequence of regular oyster consumption, or being Inuit, which again brings us back to the question is iodine deficiency the main issue. (Marine food contain iodine, but apart from milk most land based foods contain little iodine)

This report ( I will add the reference tomorrow as I have lost the link) would seem to suggest that western sources of higher levels of fluoride include (or maybe used to?) common foods such as grape juice and cereals, which self evidently are unlikely to contain significant iodine.

Some suggest that in considering whether to fluoridate water we should be mindful of the high levels of fluoride in food. The question also occurs to me how do dental trials looking at fluoride differentiate the effects of fluoride in water and larger ? amounts in food ?

The site below raises the issue of the use of pesticides that contain fluorine. I do not know if they are still in use.


Fluoride residue tolerances approved for food by US EPA as of July 15, 2005.

http://www.fluoridealert.org/wp-cont...july.2005.html

http://fluoridedetective.com/fluorid...uryl-fluoride/

Sulfuryl Fluoride:

Fluoride Fumigated FoodSulfuryl fluoride is a pesticide used to fumigate food warehouses. Kills bugs and rodents dead. Toxic?
Oh heck yeah!!

The EPA classifies it in the most acutely toxic category of pesticides: a restricted use pesticide (1) which means that food products and packaging must be removed from warehouses before they can be fumigated. No food contact allowed. Makes sense, right?

Well all this changed in 2004. Since 2004 sulfuryl fluoride has become widely used ON foods. (I bet Dow Chemical lobbyists earned a fat bonus on this.)

Now EPA allows these fumigations to create fluoride residues of up to 70 ppm fluoride “in or on” all processed foods (except specified foods) and 130 ppm “in or on” wheat!
Fluoride Alert has compiled a list of tolerated fluoride levels in fumigated foods. (5)(6)(7)(8)

Labeling of exposed foods

AND, if that’s not bad enough, no regulations require exposed foods to be labeled accordingly! Consumers have no warning whether a food has been fumigated with sulfuryl fluoride. And since fluoride is flavorless, odorless, and colorless, we are intentionally left totally in the dark on the nature of what we’re eating.

How much is 70 ppm fluoride anyway?

Look at it this way: In January 2011 the CDC lowered the amount of fluoride to be in our drinking water from 1.2 ppm to 0.7 ppm due to health concerns. With that in mind, consider your fresh or frozen dinner vegetables laden with up to 70 ppm of fluoride or the flour in your bread having 130 ppm fluoride. Ouch!!