Iodine and Testosterone: Can This Mineral Increase Testosterone Levels?

There is, however, one particular mineral, naturally found in the body, which helps boost testosterone levels and that mineral is “iodine”.

If you are thrilled to know how to increase testosterone levels by using iodine, then read this article.

Why You Need Iodine?

Iodine is an essential mineral required by every cell in the body. It is naturally found in seaweed and has many beneficial effects on the body.

• Has anti-bacterial and anti-viral properties
• Acts as an antioxidant
• Improves sleep-wake cycle
• Supports proper functioning of thyroid
• Maintains oestrogen
• Increases hormone sensitivity of the brain tissues
• Helps in eliminating lead, mercury, cadmium, fluoride and aluminum from the body

Iodine and Testosterone

Lack of iodine in the body can make your body not function optimally and there are many reasons for this. The first one is that there are four different halogens (the family of chemicals iodine belongs to) we are constantly in contact with.

Three of these halogens are toxic to the body which are chlorine, fluoride and bromine. This leaves only one halogen which is quite essential for the body and needed by every single cell in the body and it is iodine.

The problem is that our surroundings have affected these halogens. Chlorine, bromide and fluoride are lighter than iodine, so these three halogens constantly work to eliminate iodine from the body and take its place.

This leads to lower thyroid levels, which in turn leads to lower hormone levels which cause lower testosterone levels. It also causes the calcification (accumulation of calcium salts) in your glands, including the thyroid gland, pineal glands and testicles.

It sounds horrible but it’s true. In fact, it is happening right now in your body as you are reading this article. The three toxic halides have been destroying your body because you are constantly getting them inside your body.

The toothpaste you use is full of fluoride, your water supply also contains a large amount of fluoride and chlorine, and bromide is also present in bread.

The first thing you need to do is to stop the consumption of these three halides. You should use fluoride free paste, eat organic foods, drink spring water and stop swimming in chlorinated pools.

Now once you have gotten rid of these toxic halides, start supplementing your diet with iodine. This will increase your testosterone levels and help you get rid of all the three dangerous halides and replace them with iodine.

There is one particular study which shows that iodine helps to increase testosterone levels. The study was done on adult rats in which the rats were divided into two groups.

One group was given a diet supplemented with iodine and the other one was the control group. It was seen that the testosterone levels of the iodine group increased.

How Iodine Increases Testosterone Levels

Iodine increases the testosterone levels in the body. The well-known thyroid hormones, T3 and T4 contain iodine. T3 has three iodine molecules and T4 has four iodine molecules. The lack of iodine in the body can result in hypothyroidism because the thyroid glands don’t have enough substrate.

The main thing of interest here is that hypothyroid patients have significantly lower testosterone levels, as much as 36% lower. And the other noticeable thing is that high levels of iodine supplementation can bring the testosterone levels back to normal.

So, iodine increases the thyroid output, which helps to get rid of hypothyroidism which ultimately increases testosterone levels.

Iodine Effects on Athletes

Iodine has a wide range of effects on the human body, thus, it also has a number of different effects on athletes. It gives them a better mood, better concentration, and improves their sleep. Regular intake of iodine can end the long-term complaints of athletes about athlete’s foot and fungal nails.

It also eliminates the heavy metals from the body, which boosts immunity and increases testosterone levels. You should know here that everyone responds differently to iodine deficiency, so it can’t be generalized that a person will feel such and such after the intake of iodine.

Some common disorders like goiter, hypothyroidism, oestrogen dominance and breast disease, can also be cured by iodine supplementation. Research has also shown that there is an inverse relation between iodine and the incidence of cancer.

So, not only does iodine intake increase the testosterone levels of athletes, it also helps them get rid of harmful disorders.

Dangers of Excess Iodine

There are two primary concerns regarding consuming excessive amounts of iodine, which has been mentioned below:

1. Goiter – Very high iodine inhibits thyroid hormone synthesis instead of increasing it. Therefore, it causes hypothyroidism.
2. Autoimmune Thyroid Destruction - High iodine levels are a trigger for the autoimmune destruction of the thyroid gland, which leads to hypothyroidism.

Some people who take iodine supplementations argue that they aren’t consuming too much iodine. But this is a debatable issue because the required daily intake of iodine has to be checked.

So those using iodine supplementation can definitely overdose on it. And it also isn't wise to take too much iodine supplements.

As an example, consider a person who has the testosterone levels of 300 ng/dl. Now when he starts to take high amounts of iodine, his testosterone levels shoot up but he is also making himself vulnerable to many thyroid problems.

Daily Iodine Intake 

So the question is how much iodine should you consume daily? The main thing to consider here is the same as with all other supplements - how can you consume enough iodine to get its maximum benefits while at the same time leaving a safe margin for the potential side effects.

The appropriate iodine intake is about 150 mcg daily. To fulfill the iodine needs of the body, you can take Lugol’s Solution which gives you about 150 mcg iodine.

This is enough to provide iodine to each and every cell of the body while at the same time minimizing the side effects.

Conclusion

I hope this article has shown the link between iodine and testosterone levels in the body.

Iodine supplementation plays a big part in the puzzle of increasing your testosterone levels alongside the right exercise and diet.

Iodine can help men to have adequate testosterone levels and this is why it makes a lot of sense to include it in a testosterone boosting diet.