Dense Breasts & What Does Iodine Have to Do With It

Let alone protector of thyroid, ovarian, uterine and prostate tissues.

Nov 22, 2022

Women with denser breasts are said to have a higher risk of breast cancer. The question as to why might this be was tackled by researchers at Linköping University, Sweden. They have demonstrated major biological differences between “dense breasts” and “non-dense” breasts.

BTW, to take deep breast dives, these Swedish scientists developed a new MRI method that measures breast density. This new MRI also measures distinguishing factors of breasts more accurately than current methods.

Forty-four women, some with dense breasts and some with non-dense breasts, were investigated using this new contrast-enhanced MRI.

They found:

Out of 270 proteins measured, dense breasts had higher levels of 124 of them.
These elevated proteins are associated with cancer development by boosting inflammation, the formation of new blood vessels, and cell growth.

Approximately every third woman aged 40-50 has precursors to cancer in the breasts. The growth often remains at this stage, and fewer than 1% of women in this age group go on to develop cancer.

But the sensible question becomes: how to reduce the levels of these proteins and reduce the risk of developing cancer?

I think part of the answer is iodine replacement.

Iodine protects the architecture of breast tissue.

Keeping it “normal”.
Helping prevent adverse nasty changes.
In both genders.

Dr. Eskin BA was one of the first scientists to demonstrate that rodents raised on iodine insufficient diets (such as found in the typical American diet) develop dense breasts. These dense breasts, if iodine continues to be insufficient, go on to develop fibrocystic lumpy bumpy tissue, and finally mammary tumors (name of breast cancer in animals)

In many controlled studies, iodine has been established as a “requirement” for breast tissue normalcy. While iodine insufficiency deficiency results in tissue changes consistent with abnormal changes, dysplasia, and atypia.

Clinically severe hyperplasia and fibrocystic disease is seen in the breasts of women who have low iodine levels.

These precancerous lesions (abnormal tissue changes and lumpy, bumpy breasts linked with dense breasts, and now elevated proteins inside the breast tissue) result in a high-risk state as well as persistent symptomatology in women.

Women with iodine insufficiency often have breast pain. And need to wear stronger and stronger sports bras. All the while, the underlying issue may be insufficient iodine for that woman.

The larger the breasts, the larger amount of iodine is needed to maintain breast tissue normalcy.

Iodine replacement therapy has been shown to be efficacious in reducing abnormal breast tissue (dense breasts, fibrocystic breasts, and even hyperplasia).

From Eskin’s research, there is significant evidence that iodine maintains normal breast tissue growth and development. This has been replicated in test tubes, animal models, and human studies.

To show the role of iodine in breast cancer, the effect of Lugol's iodine solution (5% I(2), 10% KI) on gene expression was analyzed in the estrogen-responsive MCF-7 breast cancer cell line.

FYI: MCF7 breast cancer cells are a breast cancer cell line often used to do research on ER+ breast cancer. These cells came from a living person, a nun, who had breast cancer. These cells have been maintained from this nun (of course now dead), in the lab, for many decades. When you read MCF7 cells, you are reading about estrogen receptor-positive breast cancer cells or ER+ breast cancer cells.

Microarray analysis in the laboratory has identified 29 genes that were up-regulated and 14 genes that were down-regulated in response to iodine/iodide treatment.

The altered genes promoted healthier regulation of cell cycle progression, growth, and differentiation in breast tissue.

In other words, iodine replacement helps keep breast tissue healthier and less prone to inflammation, accumulation of nasty proteins, and/or adverse cellular change (all of which increase the risk of cancer).

For you PROs and nerds, quantitative RT-PCR confirmed the array of data demonstrating that iodine/iodide treatment increased the mRNA levels of several genes involved in estrogen metabolism (CYP1A1, CYP1B1, and AKR1C1) while decreasing the levels of the estrogen-responsive genes TFF1 and WISP2.

This means iodine protects breast tissue.

Dr. Eskin and others suggest that iodine/iodide may also be useful as an adjuvant therapy in the pharmacologic manipulation of the estrogen pathway in women with breast cancer. That’s a wow.

Not only does iodine help keep breast tissue healthy, but researchers have also suggested it should be adjunctive care in breast cancer patients. Of course, it’s a mineral and can’t be patented. So, let’s forget seeing research/drug money put into it.

Dr. Eskin presented other lab studies proving that iodine is a prerequisite for the normalcy of breast tissue in higher vertebrates.

When lacking, the parenchyma (local tissue) in rodents and humans show atypia, dysplasia, and even neoplasia (abnormal tissue).

Iodine-deficient breast tissues are more prone to tumors and cancerous growth.

Eskin suggests that iodine presents great potential for its use in the prevention and treatment of breast cancer.

Experimental findings show the ability of iodine or iodine-rich seaweed to inhibit breast tumor development.

This is also supported by the relatively low rate of breast cancer in Japanese women who consume a diet containing iodine-rich seaweed.

Iodine also maintains the healthy architecture of other organs. Such as tissues in the thyroid, ovary, uterus, and even the prostate in males.

Geographic differences in the rates of breast, endometrial, and ovarian cancer appear to be inversely correlated with dietary iodine intake. A low dietary iodine intake produces a state of increased effective reproductive tissue stimulation, which in turn produces a hyper-estrogenic state in females.

In the blood, this is characterized by a relatively high production of estrone and/or estradiol compared to a relatively low estriol level.

Estriol is the anti-cancer estrogen that signals the anti-cancer estrogen beta receptor. Thus, iodine insufficiency (which can worsen with larger body and breast mass, increases the risk of breast, endometrial, and ovarian cancer.

Increasing dietary iodine intake may reduce the risk of many of these cancers.

Let’s not forget males. Iodine supplementation exerts anti-tumor effects in several types of cancer. Including the prostate.

Iodide and iodine both reduce cell proliferation and induce apoptosis (cell death) in human prostate cancer cells (LNCaP and DU-145).

This is one reason that my new products by Biotic’s, meant to maintain “receptor functionality” which is at the core of healthy hormone signaling, contain iodine.

These products, Receptor Detox and Hormone Balance and Protect, are meant to be taken daily to protect our hormones. Which are constantly under 24/7 attack by today’s dirty environment, rife with endocrine-disrupting compounds. They are available at https://drlindseyberkson.estorerx.com/

By taking both daily, men and women get a daily dose of 3 mg/iodine which is a healthy amount to maintain hormone health.

BTW: “All” hormones need iodine in their binding domains to signal in optimal and healthiest ways.

Disease states or obesity may increase the need for iodine supplementation dosages.

Don’t forget, iodine maintains healthy thyroid, breast, ovarian, uterine, and prostate tissues. If patients have “issues in these tissues” - consider iodine replacement.

Some practitioners are very concerned about iodine supplementation and recommend against it, especially in autoimmune diseases. This has not been borne out in clinical practice. Often strictly avoiding iodine pushes these patients into a nose dive.

Be careful who you listen to regarding iodine.

Consider getting this “must have” book on iodine by my dear friend and colleague, Dr. David Brownstein: Iodine, Why You Need It.

If you are in the PRO level of my Smart + Heart membership, this later part of November we will have a Q & A with Dr. David Brownstein on Iodine in Clinical Practice, Dosages, Autoimmunity, Thyroid function, etc. You can send in questions ahead of time or during the talk through the Zoom chat. Only possible for members.

Knowledge is power.

Stay strong.

I try to help you and me both accomplish this.

Dr. B.

Agile Thinking

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