I bought some Lugol's 3% which is iodine / iodide. I have done the patch test twice - first time the patch was gone in under 6 hours. The next time it lasted 8. Apparently it should still be visible after 24. However, while I'm happy to add a drop or two water and drink that, I'm not convinced that ingesting large amounts of iodine is totally safe / wise.

I've read that many cultures historically would have had more iodine in their diet than we do now, and that the Japanese have a much higher intake, which seems to correlate with lower cancer rates (up to 12.5 Mg daily ). But I don't really like supplementing, and two drops a day is about as much as I'm repaired to take! (Around 4 mg)

Is it cheap? Sounds really cool but gimmicky.

Lots of people advocate it to protect and treat the thyroid. Soil are deficient, dont eat alot of fish, and floridation blocks the receptors for iodine which the thyroid needs to produce thyroid hormone (which regulates everything practically in the body) Too much will produce hyper thryoid which happens a little more in Japan I read. Too much fish and kelp probably.