Iodine Patch Test/Iodine Deficiency

[ysabella]

A friend of mine recently went to a "vitamin store" seeking iron pills because she was feeling run down, and the shop gal suggested she try painting some iodine on her skin and see how quickly it is absorbed. The shop gal provided some liquid iodine stuff for free, and painted a reddish patch on my friend's arm. Shop gal said, if this is all gone before you go to bed tonight, you might consider speaking to a doctor about having an iodine deficiency.

My friend emailed me about this asking my opinion, because she knows I like reading up on nutrition. She said the iodine absorbed within an hour. Doesn't this mean I'm deficient, she wondered?

I wrote back, saying that people suggest that because the thyroid uses iodine, and when you feel run down, the thyroid is an obvious suspect. I told her how parts of the Upper Midwest used to have chronic goiters. I added it's incredibly unlikely that she is deficient in iodine. It's in table salt, it's in some sea salt as well, it's in some enriched breads, it's in eggs. We live in greater Puget Sound where it naturally abounds in the soil. I also mentioned that too much iodine can be dangerous. She found this all very interesting.

Also, I went looking for pages on the iodine patch test, and didn't find anything detailed about it - just stacks of naturopathic sites explaining it, etc. I searched here, too (of course!). I was wondering if it was quackery, or what.

Here's a description of the test from a random web page:

Step 1: Go to the pharmacy and purchase Tincture of Iodine--the original, orange-colored solution, not the clear solution.

Step 2: Before going to bed, use the painting stick in the bottle of iodine to paint a 3 inch by 3 inch square patch of iodine onto the underside of the forearm or on the inner thigh or abdomen.

Step 3: In the morning, upon rising, note the color and check off a follows:

• No color left at all.
• Grayish colored
• Pale Yellow
• Bright yellow-orange (just like when you applied it the night before)

If there is NO color remaining on your skin, the test is complete. You are iodine deficient.
Check with your naturopath to get the proper supplements for you. This is a process and it will have to be a committed lifestyle permanent shift if you want to stay off of thyroid medication. You can't toy around with this, especially if you have goiter (an enlarged thyroid gland) or are borderline hyper or hypothyroid. You can't just take supplements for a month or two, think you are doing well and that you won't be needing them anymore. This can be life-threatening.

I mean, that's just coo-coo nutty. And iodine won't fix a thyroid being eaten by disease, or immune problems, etc. But I couldn't find anything discussing the patch test as quackery by just a simple search.

Eventually, I did find this: http://optimox.com/pics/Iodine/updates/UNIOD-02/UNIOD_02.htm

From the published data, the skin iodine patch test is not a reliable method to assess whole body sufficiency for iodine. Many factors play a role in the disappearance of the yellow color of iodine from the surface of the skin. For example, if iodine is reduced to iodide by the skin, the yellow color of iodine will disappear because iodide is white. In order to regenerate iodine on the skin, one needs to apply an oxidant such as hydrogen peroxide, complicating the test further. The evaporation of iodine from the skin increases with increased ambient temperatures and decreased atmospheric pressure due to weather conditions and altitude. For example, the yellow color of iodine will disappear much faster in Denver, Colorado at 5,000 feet above sea level then Los Angeles, California at sea level, irrespective of the amount of bioavailable iodine.

So that puts paid to it pretty thoroughly right there. Unless we want to believe that everyone in Denver is more iodine deficient than everyone in L.A.

But I thought I'd post this here in case anyone might have an interest in this. It's minor, but it is looking to me like it's a technique used to sell people on iodine supplements, seaweed pills, etc. by people who genuinely believe it's a worthwhile test.

(I might add, the shop gal who talked to my friend told her to talk to a doctor, not to buy iodine supplements, so that's to her credit.)

 

[Madalch]

Utter woo. Your thyroid needs iodide, not iodine.

 

[krazyKemist]

I'm seeing woo here too.

There was a rash some years ago of quacks whom would diagnose "subclinical" thyroid dysfunction to try to sell you dessicated animal thyroid gland (which they touted as better since it was natural. Meh). Most were simply useless, but some had some hormone activity left and could be very dangerous.

The simple truth is that for people with normal diets, vitamin supplements are at best useless at worst dangerous. And tests proposed in health food stores are the most bogus kinds you can find on the market (example of useless "vitamin deficiency" or "toxin analysis" tests abound).

Unusual fatigue can be caused by many factors which may demand medical attention. Anemia, for example, can be caused by many conditions, some of which can be life-treathening if left untreated. Add to this the fact that for most people iron overload can lead to devastating consequences such as liver failure, and you can understand why self-medicating is a very bad idea.

 

[jli]

(I might add, the shop gal who talked to my friend told her to talk to a doctor, not to buy iodine supplements, so that's to her credit.)

Isn´t she required to do that by law in the US?. When you look at the woo-sites, they always have a disclaimer saying that they are not giving any medical advice blah..blah., even when the whole site does nothing but giving medical advice.

If your friend does see a doctor, and succeed in making him/her do the proper thyroid tests, and the tests show nothing wrong, the shop gal might claim that the naturopathic "patch test" is much more sensitive than any traditional test performed by doctors. This strategy works for the woo diagnoses "Adrenal fatique" and "Candida infection". If on the other hand the tests should come up with an abnormal result, the shop gal appears competent and thus possibly able to sell more.