It aids good bacteria in the gut, here is what I think and why: - excess Iodine goes through the liver (loosening up hepatic stones) and comes out in bile actually disinfecting that area which is the number one hot spot for intestinal bacteria cross contamination - Dr. Olree shows that ALL intestinal bacteria requires iodine as a DNA terminating sequence - Iodine helps to chelate out metals, for GI bacteria the biggest problem is aluminum which tilts the ratio towards bacteria using aluminum in their DNA vs. those that use yttrium