The Absorption, Excretion, and Physiological Effect of Iodine in Normal Human Subjects

Although iodinehas been used as a therapeutic agent for many years, information concerning its absorption, excretion, and physiological effect in normal men' is not extensive. Several investigators have studied the uptake of iodine in the normal and pathological thyroid (1, 2, 3, 4, 5) and others, in balance studies, have sought to measure the daily iodine requirement of the body as a whole (6, 7, 8, 9). In general, very small amounts of iodine were used in these studies and the re- sults cannot be applied readily to the fate of large quantities of iodine. This study deals with the absorption and excretion of iodine in quantities ranging from 20 mgm. to 440 mgm. per day, more than a thousand times the estimated daily requirement (4, 10), but within the range of clinical ad-