Breast Cancer in Japan 66% Lower Than the U.S. – This is the One Nutrient Missing From Our Diet

Iodine is essential in keeping babies healthy in the womb, and is responsible for brain development. Iodine in the breasts helps to give babies the right amount of iodine, and when there is a deficiency in iodine, babies suffer and women will have a higher risk for breast cancer.

Low Iodine and Breast Cancer

When women’s bodies are low in iodine, their ovaries begin overproducing estrogen. The higher the level of estrogen, the higher the risk for reproductive cancers, and breast cancer. Low levels of iodine raises the sensitivity to estrogen in the breasts, allowing them to be more vulnerable to breast cancer, as intake of estrogen rises.

Leading in the research of iodine, Dr. Bernard Eskin, found that breast tissue thats deficient in iodine was increasingly likely to have pre-cancerous alterations, of which iodine would turn around. Laboratory studies have found that iodine is linked to the suppression of tumor growth, and death of cancer cells leaving healthy cells unscathed.

Women In America Today

Breast cancer rates in Japan are 66% less than the rate here in the US! The US Dietary Reference Intake for iodine is 150 mcg a day (290 mcg if breast-feeding or are pregnant), however in Japan, women receive 25 times more than American women.

They usually consume around 3-13 mg of iodine a day. It doesn’t help that in America, our diet is consisted of low levels of iodine. Since the 1920s, most of Americans consumed iodine through table salt, as the US government pushed for goiter prevention. Although, since the 1970s, women have become deficient in iodine as they are beginning to frown upon salt. Toxins in our environment also contribute to an iodine deficiency.

Halides (a group of chemicals) bind to cell receptors that are for iodine, and basically prevent our body from properly absorbing and using it.

Natural Sources of Iodine

You will always be able to improve iodine levels, and even though our bodies aren’t able to produce it, we can consume it from other foods like shrimp, lobster, tuna, salmon, navy beans, cranberries, eggs and unpeeled potatoes.

However, seaweed has the maximum amount of iodine, and is widely used in the Japanese diet. You can purchase seaweed from an Asian Supermarket or major retailer. Seaweed contains 10 times more iodine, and a study in Japan found iodine to be more effective than the chemotherapy drug, fluorouracil. You can even add in seaweed to soups, stews, or beans, as well as add in organic kelp granules to season your meals.

Avoid unhealthy foods and toxins in order to fight cancer, and don’t forget to maintain a healthy diet rich with iodine!