How adding iodine to salt made America smarter

Daily Mail UK ^ | 24 July 2013 | By Alex Greig

[dennisw]

A new study indicates that Americans gained up to 15 IQ points after the addition of iodine to salt became mandatory.

In an effort to prevent goiter related to iodine deficiency, authorities ruled that iodine be added to U.S. salt products in 1924.

[texas booster]

Things that I didn't know. From:

http://www.lef.org/magazine/mag2009/oct2009_Halt-on-Salt-Sparks-Iodine-Deficiency_01.htm

The public health message to limit salt use underlies a gradual and insidious return of iodine deficiency. The National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys (NHANES) assessment of Americans’ health revealed a 50% reduction in iodine levels and a quadrupling of iodine deficiency in the period between 1971 and 1994. Twelve percent of the population surveyed from 1988 to 1994 were severely iodine deficient, judged by urinary levels of iodine.8 Women of childbearing age are at particular risk for iodine deficiency, with up to 36% evidencing low levels.9

A recent detailed analysis of several brands of commercially available salt showed that, after opening, iodine is lost rapidly from the product. Once the container is exposed to air, iodine content is nearly gone within four weeks after opening (even faster under conditions of high humidity). The study suggests that, even among people who use the salt shaker frequently for cooking and food, daily iodine intake may be below the recommended daily intake.10

The majority of salt used in processed foods is not iodized. While dairy products and baked foods (bread and related products) were formerly substantial sources of iodine, the iodine content of these foods has dropped due to changing practices by dairy producers and bakers.10-12

[Navy Patriot]

Thanks, now I’m glad I read this thread thoroughly.

[Eric in the Ozarks]

A woman down the street from us had a goiter under her chin back when I was a little kid in the 50s. She walked by my great grandfather's house while we lived there (my dad was stationed overseas.)
I wonder if this occurs at all in Asia, with all the salty soy and seafood available...

[Secret Agent Man]

you’d think that would’ve let the blacks gain at least 30 extra points.

[Navy Patriot]

I believe that iodine must be added to salt to obtain the recommended level for good health.

I don't know if Japan produces salt in the same manner as the US, or if they add Iodine.

[SunkenCiv]

Maybe the IQ tests were designed by a pro-iodine zealot!!! /s

Thanks dennisw.

[Eric in the Ozarks]

There was a bottle of Aji-no-moto on every table when we were there.

[spacejunkie2001]

of course we shouldn’t consume more table salt, which is garbage, but unrefined salt is great, but has no added iodine.

Then...we need to take either Iodoral or Lugol’s which are both made up of the right ratio of iodine to iodide.

[spacejunkie2001]

If you don’t supplement with iodine (or eat like a Japanese person) you are highly deficient in iodine. Most in America are very deficient.

[autumnraine]

So the ‘sea salt’ (that doesn’t have added iodide) made everyone dumber?

[spacejunkie2001]

They replaced iodine in our baked goods in about 1948 due to a FALSE report that iodine was bad, and put in bromine, which is a toxic halide that mimics iodine. You have to consume high enough doses of iodine to knock the bromine off your iodine receptors so you can absorb the iodine.

The common though in iodine informed circles is that shell fish allergies and other reactions attributed to iodine is actually bromine detox symptoms.

[spacejunkie2001]

No it doesn’t. In fact in Japan they have practically a nil incidence of reproductive cancers, as well as thyroid cancer, because iodine protects against cancer. We have many iodine receptors in our repro organs.

A little trivia: an enlarged prostate is GOITER. It is the tissue swelling looking for iodine, same as the thyroid. The same applies to fibroids in the breast and uterus.

[GOP Poet]

I just eat seaweed. Yummy!! Try SeaSnax they are addictive. ;)

[jeffc]

Dang!! Guess I'm really, really stupid, then. I only use kosher salt.

But I take a multi-vitamin daily.

[Nik Naym]

“of course we shouldn’t consume more table salt, which is garbage, but unrefined salt is great, “

A HA HA HA HA HA (snort)

You make me laugh.

[bravo whiskey]

so i guess they started taking it out in the ‘70s, eh?

[satan]

Wait till you see the results of nicotine, cause of the industrial revolution, now banned in the USSA.

[Trod Upon]

15 extra IQ points is a nice bonus, but it’s nothing in the face of government schools + Department of Education + teachers unions + 5th column media domination + 50 years of Third World immigration. It’s like bailing the Titanic with a thimble.

[GGpaX4DumpedTea]

“Iodine was added to salt at a time when food sources were regional. That time is long past; it would be nearly impossible for an American today to have an iodine deficiency.”

Iodized salt has barely enough to help prevent goiter. Iodine is a serious deficiency in America today. But that is for at least two reasons...

1. Iodines needs in the body are not well known.
2. Because those needs are not well known, we do not get enough iodine in our diets.

If a woman had enough iodine in her system she would not get breast cancer, and if a man had enough he would not get prostate cancer.

Iodine is needed in microgram amounts for the thyroid, mg amounts for breast and other tissues, and can be used therapeutically in gram amounts.[3]
- Dr. David Miller

Along with magnesium and selenium, iodine is one of the most deficient minerals in our bodies. The toxicity of modern life must be impacting iodine levels. It is well known that the toxic halides, fluoride and bromide, having a similar structure as iodine, can competitively inhibit iodine absorption and binding in the body. Because of the elevated levels of toxic halides in the environment and in the food supply, iodine levels have not only fallen but larger amounts of iodine are necessary to correct iodine deficiency as well as to promote a detoxifying effect of heavy metals.

Dr. Michael B. Schachter says, “The treatment dose when a person is iodine insufficient is generally between 12.5 mg and 50 mg daily. Preliminary research indicates that if a person is iodine insufficient, it takes about 3 months to become iodine sufficient while ingesting a dosage of 50 mg of iodine and a year to become iodine sufficient while ingesting a dosage of 12.5 mg of iodine daily.

When you look at mainstream recommendations all the above information seems strange but this is because dosage and RDA are set obscenely low. Note instead of talking in milligrams (mg) the RDA is in micrograms (mcg) which is a scale exactly 1000 times less. Meaning it takes 1000 mcg to equal 1 mg and it takes 1000 mg to equal a gram.

Iodine is necessary to get rid of the bromides and fluorides poisoning our bodies, and it takes a lot to do that. Supplementation is the only way we can accomplish that. Iodine helps unclog arteries that otherwise cause cardiovascular problems.

[Paleo Conservative]

Since when has the addition of iodine been mandatory? If you watch cooking shows on TV, they often use kosher or sea salt. Neither of those products are supplemented with iodine.