The Periodic Table of Elements is an organized chart of all known chemical elements based on their size. It is laid out in a pattern in which each column exhibits similar properties.

Bromine is part of the halogen family of elements, which occupies group 17 (the 17th column from left to right) of the chart. When halogens combine with any other element, the compound is known as a halide. The halogens — from smaller to larger — include: fluorine (fluoride), chlorine (chloride), bromine (bromide), iodine (iodide), and astatine (astadide).

The most common halides are fluoride, chloride, bromide, and iodide. Out of the four common halides, two are essential for the human body: chloride and iodide. We can’t manufacture them, nor can we live without them. We must get them from our diet or via supplementation, or we will die.

The other two halides — fluoride and bromide — are nonessential, and are in fact toxic substances that have no (or minimal) therapeutic effect within the human body.