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Adding iodine to salt played a role in cognitive improvements: research (2013)
- burnte 2y agoPublic health generally works!
- sitkack 2y ago> Iodine deficiency today is the leading cause of preventable mental retardation in the world. It’s estimated that nearly one-third of the world’s population has a diet with too little iodine in it, and the problem isn’t limited to developing countries — perhaps one-fifth of those cases are in Europe (pdf), where iodized salt is still not the norm. https://web.archive.org/web/20200820212020/https://www.who.int/nutrition/publications/VMNIS_Iodine_deficiency_in_Europe.pdf https://web.archive.org/web/20200820212020/https://www.who.i... > The Recommended Dietary Allowance (RDA) for iodine is between 220 micrograms (mcg) and 290 mcg in pregnancy, and 290 mcg when breastfeeding. [1] Iodine affects the thyroid which produces hormones that regulate how the brain develops in the womb. If these T3/T4 hormones aren't strong enough, brain cells don't get into the right places. Apparently Iodine intake needs to be 50% higher than the normal healthy level during pregnancy (and higher during breast feeding). Taking prenatal vitamins now in case I get pregnant. [1] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK582771/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK582771/ [2] https://www.phind.com/search?cache=l34zoyrwfc8ocb3vcodcsc46 https://www.phind.com/search?cache=l34zoyrwfc8ocb3vcodcsc46 So when neurons form in the brain, they are born in a nursery and then migrate to their final destination. Here is a movie showing this, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OMYHx7dRe8g https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OMYHx7dRe8g Mapping Postnatal Neuronal Migration: A Late Path to Neurodevelopmental Disorders https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E4FZiv-rtTU https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E4FZiv-rtTU Neurogenesis in the mammalian brain https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B2RINOAeONw https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B2RINOAeONw
- ed312 2y agoThis was both a new topic to me and a remarkably succinct (and well-cited) comment. Did you happen to do this research independently or do you reference a more comprehensive source?
- sitkack 2y agoI love doing research so I tried to answer the question for myself, "why does iodine deficiency cause cognitive impairment"? I have no background here. Then I discovered that brain cells walk around during brain formation. MindBlown!
- decide1000 2y ago[flagged]
- dang 2y ago"Eschew flamebait. Avoid generic tangents." https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
- decide1000 2y agoApologies, a bad executed joke
- gopalv 2y agoBurger King continued to use iodized salt consistently, while McDonalds, Wendys etc have switched to flakier salts for their fries which cuts total sodium overall by being flatter instead of grainy, but without any iodine added to it. The downward trend in fast food began in the 70s, once sodium was seen as bad, so more salty tasting thin crystals were preferred. [1] - https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/20634172/ https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/20634172/ (on researchgate)
- erikpukinskis 2y agoI also prefer cooking with the flakier stuff because I can grab a pinch of it and sprinkle it in a controlled way. I try to use iodized salt when it’s convenient: when salting pasta water, in baking, etc… but I wonder if my family is getting enough.
- dkarl 2y agoWhen my wife's doctor recommended more iodine in her diet, I was surprised how hard it was to find iodized flaky salt. I only found one brand I could order, and it was extremely expensive and didn't have a great texture for cooking with. I keep iodized table salt around and sometimes use it for salting soup, stock, or pasta water, but 99% of the time I reach for plain old Morton kosher salt.
- connicpu 2y agoIt might just be easier and cheaper to take iodine supplements. Humans need about 150mcg/day, just make sure not to overdose on it. Vitamin companies love selling you huge doses you don't need, but if you know what dosage you're looking for you can usually find appropriate ones.
- deleted 2y ago[deleted]
- tzs 2y ago> Vitamin companies love selling you huge doses you don't need, but if you know what dosage you're looking for you can usually find appropriate ones. One approach that can work is to use multivitamins. They usually have a lower dosage of everything than do single thing supplements. For example the iodine supplements I've seen are in the 225 mcg to 325 mcg range. Most adult multivitamins seem to have 150 mcg. If you want lower than that children's multivitamins can do the trick. Flintstone's have 90 mcg. House brands meant to directly compete with Flintstone's do not always copy the Flintstone's dosages, so be sure to check the label. Walmart's Equate brand for example is 150 mcg, same as most adult multivitamins. I like to take children's vitamins as insurance. They have enough of many things that if I have a minor deficiency in my diet they should cover it, but not so much as to cause problems if my diet is sufficient or even a little high. Plus they taste good, which helps if you have other supplements you are taking that do not taste good.
- jeffbee 2y agoIodized salt, sanitary sewers, and shoes are the showcase achievements of public health, aside from vaccines and whatnot that people associate with progress in medicine.
- fodkodrasz 2y agoI agree, but not forget washing hands and using antiseptics where it makes sense.
- shortrounddev2 2y agoFluoridated water too
- PKop 2y agoNope. Trivial benefit while marginally lowering IQ. Fluoride Exposure and Children’s IQ Scores A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis [0] [0] https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamapediatrics/fullarticle/2828425 https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamapediatrics/fullarticle/...
- 6SixTy 2y agoYou linked a study saying that under 1.5mg/L, fluoride is safe. EPA maximum is 4.0, but secondary standard is 2.0. Current recommendations from the Dept. of Health and Human Services are at 0.7mg/L.
- PKop 2y agoThere's no point, why risk it, for what benefit? Just brush your teeth and apply topical fluoride periodically. It's not hard. Is it for you? Even a tiny negative impact on IQ is a dumb thing to accept in service to some nonsense rationale for your teeth. Accepting this tradeoff is an IQ test itself. I'm with Europe on this one.
- shortrounddev2 2y ago
- dukeofdoom 2y ago[flagged]
- duskwuff 2y agoSee also: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3800113/ https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3800113/ TL;DR: hookworm eradication in the American South substantially improved school attendance and educational outcomes in children, and may have had a nontrivial positive effect on the overall economy of the region. (In case you don't see the connection, some children had such severe hookworm infestations that they were too anemic to focus in school, or even to attend at all. Teachers' accounts specifically remark on their students' newly "rosy cheeks" - because they're no longer anemic.)
- throw745859 2y agoBut hookworm recently returned. There are also all sorts of parasitic worms that coexist with men. Pets require periodic vaccination, but most owners are deniers or just do not care! Remember that, next time you step into dog shit!
- FuriouslyAdrift 2y agoHookworms and the Myth of the "Lazy Southerner" https://www.pbs.org/video/gross-science-myth-laziness/ https://www.pbs.org/video/gross-science-myth-laziness/
- zwieback 2y agoI grew up in Germany where iodized salt and flouridated water aren't the norm. Now I have bad teeth and can't wrap my head around the latest changes in the C++ language...
- spacemanspiff01 2y agoCan't comment on the bad teeth, but I don't think iodine is causing your c++ issues...
- jeffbee 2y agoSwitzerland is the exemplar of a place without environmental iodine, right?
- greenavocado 2y agoAny landlocked country without access to ocean water for irrigation and drinking. Heck, even the American midwest is notorious for having little iodine in its soil.
- cgh 2y agoDenmark iodizes its salt. Therefore, C++ is unnecessarily complex.
- eddythompson80 2y agoI guess there is a reason Germans blamed the Jews for all their bullshit.
- deleted 2y ago[deleted]
- virtualritz 2y ago10 out of 10! :D
- carlmr 2y agoIodized salt is quite the norm in Germany. You can buy the non -iodized version which is better for bread baking. But most everyone I know has iodized salt at home. Also doesn't water fluoridation cost a few IQ points? In the end I could imagine the effects cancelling each other out.
- jrootabega 2y ago> Iodine is a critical micronutrient in the human diet — that is, something our bodies can’t synthesize For this I am thankful. If your body DOES start synthesizing iodine, you and those around you probably don't have much longer left to live.
- frabert 2y agoI long for the day when my liver can also act as a particle accelerator
- xattt 2y agoThe kidneys? A pair of calutrons.
- altairprime 2y agosmiles in katalepsis
- blueflow 2y agoExplanation: Iodine is a molecular element, it consists out of only one type of atom. Atoms being synthesized implies some nuclear reaction or decay going on, both would cause radiation.
- iugtmkbdfil834 2y agoThank you. For the life of me I could not figure out why that is true.
- MichaelNolan 2y agoFurther reading from Gwern - https://gwern.net/iodine https://gwern.net/iodine
- guspillk 2y ago[flagged]
- ninalanyon 2y agoentourage?
- ycombinatrix 2y agoPerhaps a polite way to say "harem"
- altairprime 2y agoPotassium iodide liquid was a fun way to discover what that weird bitter taste in iodized salt is, and to find out that I desire Some Occasionally, after it went from tasting “interesting” to “mr yuck” over about three days and then reverted over a week or two.
- cmiller1 2y agoI looked up this Brownstein protocol and the first result is the FTC taking action against the guy for making false medical claims by making up a crazy vitamin protocol and falsely advertising it as a way to prevent or cure coronavirus.
- davidgay 2y agohttps://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v45/n23/jonah-goodman/a-national-evil https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v45/n23/jonah-goodman/a-nati... is a pretty good article describing how a Swiss doctor showed experimentally that adding iodine was a cure for goitre and the associated mental handicaps (Switzerland is highly deficient in iodine in many areas, because glaciers in the last ice age removed most top soil).
- kazinator 2y ago> something our bodies can’t synthesize Iodine is an element! As such, it cannot be produced by a chemical reaction and so isn't synthesized in any living organism. It's produced in supernova explosions, by the rapid neutron capture process.
- anal_reactor 2y agoI'd argue that it's not completely unreasonable to claim that stars are living organisms in some sense of this expression
- djtango 2y agoAfter studying atmospheric Chemistry I found it hard to not feel like our planet was alive in some sense of the word but "alive" has a very precise meaning and Earth doesn't fit the definition. Presumably because it doesn't reproduce
- mjcohen 2y agoThen you might enjoy "Star Maker" by Olaf Stapeldon. It is available on Amazon.
- reactcore 2y agoGood to see one of my favorite books recommended here.
- fatata123 2y ago[dead]
- amelius 2y agoSo, what is wrong with the statement?
- jrootabega 2y agoAt best, it doesn't say anything useful. You can say the same thing about carbon, nitrogen, hydrogen, etc. At worst, it implies that, like essential amino acids, it CAN be synthesized by some living organism.
- hilux 2y agoIodine is also found in seafood and dairy and eggs, which may have been less common in the American diet a century ago, especially among the poor, but are widespread today. Americans no longer need iodized salt. (Not sure about vegans.)
- 6SixTy 2y agoVegans should already be extremely watchful of their nutrition, as there's for example B12 in a lot of animal products, where a B12 deficiency means you are getting nerve damage.
- cogman10 2y agoIt's definitely in seafood. Dairy and eggs depend on what the cows and chickens have been fed. In regions with low soil iodine content, you can expect the eggs and milk to also be low in iodine. Vegetables and grains also have a significant amount of iodine in that sort of soil (it's where the cows and chickens get it).
- hiroshi3110 2y agoIn Japan, iodized salt is banned as a food additive. because we can take it from see weeds like kombu.
- ycombinatrix 2y agoWhy would that be a reason to ban iodized salt?
- xiande04 2y agoEven without iodized salt, Japan is one of the highest consumers of iodine worldwide. [1] But I agree. Even though iodized salt is pointless in Japan, so is the law banning it (assuming OP is correct, and it is in fact banned). [1]: https://anaturalhealingcenter.com/documents/Thorne/articles/Iodine13-2.pdf https://anaturalhealingcenter.com/documents/Thorne/articles/...
- numpad0 2y agoIIUC it's not specifically banned by name in a law, more like not on the whitelist for food additives. Industrialized foodstuffs manufacturing in late 20th century Japan was wild, and additives are managed on approvals basis than bans as the result.
- slongfield 2y agoToo much iodine can lead to thyroid problems, and this has been a problem in some subgroups in Japan: https://academic.oup.com/jcem/article/107/6/e2634/6516999 https://academic.oup.com/jcem/article/107/6/e2634/6516999
- tguvot 2y agoneed to cook food for dog due to medical reasons, and one of ingredients is iodized salt. so i had a quick look at this topic. so, as far as i remember: - different brands have different amount of iodine - iodine dissipates from opened salt container, with speed of dissipation been dependant on temperature and humidity - if you cook with iodized salt, most of it iodine disappears (depends on brand. some retain more )
- puzzledobserver 2y agoI had never thought about point 1, and never knew about points 2 and 3. Growing up in India, iodized salt was the norm. Given that I'm vegetarian, now that I have moved the US, I have continued to use iodized salt for my own cooking. Whatever Morton / Kroger / other grocery store brand is most readily available. I usually keep it stored in an airtight plastic jar but use it for cooking like normal. Should I be worried about iodine loss during cooking?
- tguvot 2y agodepends on amount of salt that you use and your nutritional requirements... for my dog I add salt after cooking. she won't know the difference
- ufo 2y agoRegardless, on average it tends to work out. The amount of iodine in the salt is regulated by measuring uring samples in a large population.
- joseph_b 2y agoI wonder if I got my share of iodine growing up, or maybe too much, while playing with nitrogen triiodide?
- speed_spread 2y agoConsidering a clear distinction between "slowly growing up" and "quickly expanding in all directions", that you managed to grow up at all proves that you didn't have too much.
- taeric 2y agoThis has me curious on how I would know if my family needs more iodine? We have largely been on kosher salt for a long long time. It is just more pleasant to use while cooking. I could, I think, just switch a lot of what we do back to iodized salt? Feels pointless if not needed, though.
- 29athrowaway 2y agoYou likely eat other kosher products that do not use "kosher salt". Using "kosher salt" is not always a requirement for a product to be kosher. Technically all salt is kosher if it is produced under kosher supervision, even if it's not "kosher salt". (And some salt labeled as "kosher salt" can also be not actually kosher!) "Kosher salt" should be rather called "koshering salt", which is the salt you would use for koshering meat. And like most people, you likely eat more salt than strictly needed because there's salt in everything. So consuming more salt should be of least concern.
- taeric 2y agoOh, I should have been clear there, I don't do kosher because it is "kosher." I just like the larger flakes and it is easier to cook with from familiarity. I'm assuming with time I could get used to iodized again, but not at all clear if I need to. And we have actually been doing quite well with not eating out too often. Literally less than 5 times all month. Such that I am not at all worried that we are getting too much salt. Though, that starts getting at the general question. How often should I get blood work for nutritional analysis? Because.... I don't know that I've ever done that.
- 29athrowaway 2y agoI see. Most sea salt also has no iodine if that's a concern.
- taeric 2y agoI was never concerned about iodine. A chef suggested kosher salt as being easier to use and I switched a long time ago. If anything, my concern now would be if I should make sure we are not lacking in iodine.
- aaron695 2y ago[dead]
- napierzaza 2y ago[dead]
- bilsbie 2y agoIsn’t there a lot of iodine in dairy?
- dchristian 2y agoThat depends on if it's in the grass that the cows eat. They first researched iodine in cows because there isn't much iodine in the grass around the great lakes. This area was known as the "goiter belt". Adding iodine to the cow's food made them healthier and that's how they estimated the dose for humans (mcg / kg).
- cbracketdash 2y agoA significant source of declining iodine levels in humans can also be traced to increased bromide found in food and medications. Most notably potassium iodate was used as a bread conditioner until the 1950s when it was substituted for potassium bromate. [0] Excess bromide levels displace the iodide stored in the thyroid and is a contributing factor to the described increase of groiter. Bromide also has the added drawback of increased cancer risk and has now been banned in California [1] [2]. [0] https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3916868/ https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3916868/ [1] https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202320240AB418&os=.&ref=app https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml... [2] https://web.archive.org/web/20131203041405/http://www.oehha.ca.gov/prop65/CRNR_notices/admin_listing/intent_to_list/noilbromate.html https://web.archive.org/web/20131203041405/http://www.oehha....
- red-iron-pine 2y agobromide in flour is a uniquely US thing too, and IMO you can taste the difference when you eat bread in other places.
- cbracketdash 2y agoYes, and there is anecdotal evidence of improved health and loss of gluten allergies when traveling to Europe for vacation! (Probably confounding factors but still worth considering)
- CactusBlue 2y agoIn Korea, people often have seaweed soup. Seaweed is very high in iodine, so most people in South Korea doesn't use iodized salt.
- yongjik 2y agoSeaweed, man. Buy a bag of dried kombu, plop a piece when you're making soup or broth: it goes well with most flavors, and will give you all the iodine you need. Disclaimer: not meant to be medical advice, obviously.