Had I known about iodine deficiency 20 years ago, I might have been able to successfully breastfeed my daughter and also have more children. As it was, after Lydian was born, I had 1 stillborn baby and 2 miscarriages due to nutrient deficiencies. Pregnancy depletes nutrient stores which means that after 1 or 2 pregnancies, the problem gets worse and worse until it is corrected.How to Increase Breast Milk Supply and Quality Naturally
A number of women today who are living in the developed world have noted that they have difficulty producing enough breast milk to feed their baby or to produce a surplus. Working with herbal lactation supplements can sometimes be helpful, in part because of the nutrients that these supplements contain, but women who are seriously deficient in iodine and vitamin K2 might take herbal lactation medicine and only see modest results in terms of increasing breast milk production. That’s because these herbal lactation medicines don’t contain quite enough iodine or vitamin K2 to push breast milk production over the threshold.This is a big problem because women must then come up with how to feed a baby without breast milk. Commercial baby formula has proven to be an unsafe, non-nutritious, and potentially deadly option that many women wish to avoid. Though the Weston A. Price baby formula is definitely an option, breast milk is still more convenient and more nutritious. So let’s talk about iodine and vitamin K2 and how these nutrients play a role in breast milk production.
About 100 years ago, it was common knowledge that iodine deficiency could cause lactation issues. Indeed, milk production in cows, as well as in humans, depends to some extent on having enough iodine available for this task. But today, doctors are taught in AMA medical schools that iodine is toxic. They believe that all forms of iodine are radioactive iodine. Unless they do some of their own research, they never learn about the essential mineral, iodine, that was once the most prescribed “medicine” by doctors at the turn of the 20th century. And for pregnant and lactating women, this blind spot in modern medicine is a serious tragedy.
It’s hard to believe that doctors would know this little about such an essential nutrient, but doctors often don’t take even 1 nutrition course in all of their schooling. As a general rule, most doctors believe that vitamins, minerals, and other nutritional supplements are silly if not dangerous. So patients must do their own homework and expect little support from the medical clinic. Nonetheless, the results of these efforts are often excellent. Women learn not to blindly trust the doctor, which benefits both mothers and their children.
Iodine During Pregnancy: What You Need to Know
Iodine is one of the most important nutrients that a woman needs during pregnancy. It ranks up there with folate / vitamin B9 in terms of importance, yet few women are aware of iodine deficiency as an issue that can cause serious birth defects, pregnancy-related health problems, and lactation issues. You see, iodine deficiency is a calculated and intentional problem that was manufactured by Big Pharma and Big Ag.GMO plants include the likes of corn, soy, and wheat. All of these are staple foods which means that people eat a lot of them and they make up a huge proportion of dietary caloric intake each day. But GMO plants don’t produce the same set of essential nutrients that non-GMO plants make because GMO plants are genetically engineered to NOT go through the Shikimate Pathway.
The following nutrients are, thus, not produced by GMO plants:
- L-Tyrosine (an amino acid that is an essential ingredient along with iodine in the production of thyroid hormones)
- L-Tryptophan (an amino acid that is an essential ingredient in the production of serotonin and melatonin).
- Folate / Vitamin B9 (a nutrient that ensures that the neural tube is properly formed during the embryonic stage of development–a deficiency can produce birth defects such as spina bifida)
- Vitamin K1 (this nutrient is responsible for healthy blood-clotting and bone development)
- Vitamin K2 / Menaquinone-7 / MK-7 (this nutrient ensures that calcium is placed in bones instead of soft tissues like organs, glands, and blood vessels).
- More…
Read more about the health problems that are caused by GMO foods here.
Most people today eat GMO plants and in places like the U.S., these non-nutritious plant foods make up a huge proportion of the daily caloric intake. Pregnant women who take a special pregnancy multivitamin may even have a hard time keeping pace with the lack of nutrients in foods these days. And women who are lactating are at the end of a very nutrient-depleting experience: pregnancy. Let’s talk about that in a bit more detail.
During pregnancy, the body will dip into stores of nutrients in the bones and teeth or in the fat tissues to fill in the nutrient-gaps in a woman’s diet. This is why the dental industry often recommends that women go and get a dental checkup prior to becoming pregnant. It’s pretty common for women to develop dental problems during or right after pregnancy because of the heavy demand for bone-forming nutrients during pregnancy.
But what the dental industry doesn’t tell women is that studies have unequivocally demonstrated that in dairy cows, even exposure to a small amount of fluoride can reduce milk production significantly. We’ve already discussed this in depth in terms of iodine deficiency, but now we need to bring in vitamin K2 as a nutrient that must be present in the diet as well in order to promote absorption of iodine from supplements or diet.
Though iodine isn’t on the list of Shikimate Pathway nutrients that have been genetically deleted from GMO plants, vitamin K2 is. You see, vitamin D is a nutrient that shouldn’t be a nutrient at all. Vitamin D is produced naturally by human skin when we’re exposed to sunlight (without sunscreen). Vitamin D then travels to the liver and then to the kidneys to be activated. Then, vitamin D goes to the intestines where it takes calcium and pushes it into the bloodstream. This is the moment when vitamin K2 takes the calcium from vitamin D to carry it to the bones and teeth. But if you’re deficient in vitamin K2, the calcium will build up in soft tissues like the pineal gland, the placenta, the blood vessels or heart, the liver, or any number of places where calcium does not belong. For pregnant women, this problem is serious, if not deadly in some situations. Indeed, women who take a vitamin D supplement during pregnancy may develop issues like calcification of the placenta. Read more here about the harmful effects of supplementing with vitamin D without vitamin K2 during pregnancy.
If you also are taking a vitamin D2 or vitamin D3 supplement, then you are artificially pushing a lot of calcium into the blood supply where it circulates, making it impossible for your body to absorb iodine.
You see the problem, right?
Halogen Toxicity
If you also are drinking water that contains bromide or fluoride, brushing your teeth with a fluoride toothpaste, drinking sodas, eating commercial bread products that contain BVOs (brominated vegetable oils), or if you’ve purchased furnishings or even pajamas that have been sprayed with bromine (as a flame retardant), then your situation is probably pretty dire in terms of iodine deficiency and bromide / fluoride toxicity. Avoid over-the-counter and prescription medications that contain bromine. Cough syrups notoriously contain bromine, for example, as an unlisted ingredient. Maybe you go swimming at a local pool that’s using bromine instead of fluorine to purify its water. Or perhaps you live a mile down the road from fields where farmers spray their crops with either organophosphates or bromide-containing insecticides. Unless you’re one of the few people on earth who lives in a remote location, hunting wild game, and drinking water that has not been meddled with by municipal authorities, you are likely being exposed to the toxic halogens bromide and fluoride in rather massive quantities. These toxic halogens (bromide and fluoride) take advantage of your iodine deficiency to worsen the condition of iodine deficiency and make it into a situation of halogen toxicity.The good news, however, is that taking a daily dose of 50 mg (20 drops) of Lugol’s iodine 2% along with 100-200 mcg of vitamin K2 per day can protect you and your baby from organophosphate exposure both during pregnancy and lactation.
Iodine Therapy to Increase Breast Milk Production Naturally
Iodine deficiency in the early 1900s was a fairly easy problem to fix. If a doctor met with a patient who had low breast milk production, for example, he would simply prescribe Lugol’s iodine and the problem would resolve itself. But today things are different. Iodine deficiency makes the body vulnerable to toxic halogens like bromide and fluoride. When the body doesn’t have enough iodine, it desperately reaches out in search of anything resembling iodine. And bromide and fluoride, as halogen elements that sit in the same column of the periodic table as iodine, look similar to the body as iodine. So these toxins are pulled into the bones and the endocrine glands where they remain until a person starts taking Lugol’s iodine along with certain supportive nutrients (which are listed in the Basic Iodine Protocol chapter).
The supporting nutrients for iodine supplementation are listed below:
- Vitamin C – 2000 to 5000 mgs/day – take this supplement 4 to 6 hours AFTER iodine
- Selenium – 200 to 400 mcg/day – (assists with detoxification and thyroid secretion)
- Unrefined salt / Celtic or Himalayan sea salt – ½ tsp/day in ½ c. water followed by 12 oz. of water – the salt binds to bromine and assists in detoxification
- Magnesium – 400 - 600 mg/day
- Vitamin B3 - 500 mg per day - This nutrient is also essential for those with hypothyroidism or hyperthyroidism. It is also very beneficial for those without a known thyroid issues.
- Vitamin B2 - 400 mg per day - This nutrient dosage is absolutely essential for anyone with hypothyroidism or hyperthyroidism. It can be extremely beneficial to those without thyroid problems.
- Zinc / Copper - 15 mg / 2 mg
- Optional – ATP Cofactors – 1 tablet 2 times per day
- Sea Water Supplement - 1 tsp. per 8 ounces of water
- Vitamin K2 / MK-7- 200 mcg per day (note that without vitamin K2, the body will not be able to properly absorb iodine).
To remove toxic bromide and fluoride gently from the body, you should take the supportive nutrients for 2 weeks before beginning Lugol’s iodine therapy. Otherwise, you’ll experience symptoms of bromide and fluoride detoxification. These supportive nutrients will also help you produce more breast milk naturally in addition to boosting the nutritional quality of your milk. If you are considering another pregnancy, these nutrients will also reboot your system, which is deficient in essential nutrients, so that your next pregnancy can be healthy and normal.
When you start taking the Lugol’s iodine 2%, administer just 1 drop on your skin daily or put 1 drop in drinking water. Increase your daily dose by 1 drop every 2-3 days as long as you’re not experiencing bromide/fluoride detoxification symptoms. When you get to 20 drops per day, maintain that dose for the rest of your life to protect yourself from bromide / fluoride exposure.
Babies and children should receive 1 drop per year of age. Thus, a 1 year old should receive a daily dose of 1 drop of Lugol’s iodine 2%, while a 9 year old would receive 9 drops each day.
NOW Supplements, MK-7 Vitamin K-2 100 mcg, Cardiovascular Support*, Supports Bone Health*, 60 Veg Capsules
Salt Loading / Salt Flushing Protocol
Summary
Dairy milk used to be one of the biggest sources of iodine and vitamin K2 in the human diet, but cows that are fed GMO corn products are seriously deficient in both of these nutrients. Women who eat GMO plant products are also deficient in both iodine and vitamin K2. As a result of these deficiencies, some women have a difficult time producing enough breast milk to feed their babies. And while doctors themselves honestly don’t know why women are having lactation issues, Big Pharma and Big Ag know exactly why women are having lactation issues.Note that when you begin supplementing with Lugol’s iodine, you are likely to experience bromide / fluoride detoxification symptoms. Also note that during the detoxification period, which can last a month or longer, you may not notice that you produce more breast milk. Nonetheless, iodine and vitamin K2 are what helps produce more breast milk when nothing else seems to work. Indeed, if you take iodine supplements and vitamin K2 supplements, your baby will have a much stronger immune system, a higher level of intelligence, better focus and concentration in his or her future, stronger bones, straight teeth, and a variety of other health benefits. And as a woman, your risk of breast cancer and other reproductive organ cancers as well as all bone and blood cancers will be significantly diminished, you’ll be unlikely to develop osteoporosis during menopause, and your mental clarity, sexual health, and libido will be enhanced in a noteworthy way.
The AlivenHealthy Iodine Bible - Everything you need to know to get started taking iodine and more!
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