What’s the purpose of putting iodide in salt? Pretty much all table salt is iodized. Is it for us, or for the salt (i.e. to keep it looking pretty)? And is iodide related to iodine?
Steve
I think it’s to help people with their iodine intake. It’s for us, not the salt.
Table salt sold in the United States and Switzerland contains small amounts of iodine. Iodine is added to salt in an effort to prevent dietary deficiency of iodine, which can result in the enlargement of the thyroid gland. This condition is called goiter.
Iodide is to Iodine what Chloride is to Chlorine. Iodine is a volitle black solid that evaporates to a magenta gas. Iodide is the -1 charge state of the element and, being charged, cannot exist in isolation. Chlorine is a green gas; chloride is the -1 charge state of the element and, being charged, cannot exist in isolation. Salt is “iodized” by mixing a small amount of sodium iodide in with the rest of the sodium chloride. It is iodized to insure that people get an adequate source of iodine in their diet, as it is required for thyroid maintenance. People without enough iodine in their diet develop “goiter,” a painful inflamation of the thyroid gland.
IIRC, whether you need it depends on what part of the country you live in. Some areas have enough iodine in the water (I think) that you don’t need iodized salt.
I’ve also heard that people who get a lot of really fresh seafood in their diet don’t need iodized salt, since most fresh seafood is a good source of iodine.
i don’t know the historicity of this, but i recall that iodide was also phased in to make sure that levels were up in the body. this was to protect against radioactive iodine absorption due to fallout and whatnot. cold war hysteria- when it rains, it mutually annhiliates its enenmy.
Didn’t (and maybe still do?) they (we, the US) have iodine tablets stored around the country to be distributed in this case?
A classic column: Do radiation-nullifying pills actually work?
But who decided that salt would be a good place to deliver iodide? Just like who decided that Milk is the proper vehicle for Vitamin D?
The FDA.
Arjuna34
I’d guess sodium iodide tastes salty. So the natural place to put it is something salty that everyone uses a little bit of. Salt sounds like a reasonable choice to me.
Just to clarify. The main purpose for adding iodine to salt is not to prevent goiters. Rather, by ensuring sufficient iodine intake, the condition called hypothyroidism is prevented.
Untreated, or unrecognized, hypothyroidism (due to iodine deficiency for instance) during pregancy leads to mental retardation in kids. Unfortunately this is still a big problem in parts of the World.
I was in the store the other day, and I saw “low-sodium” salt. How is this possible?
They use potassium instead of sodium (KCl vs. NaCl). Definitely to be avoided if you’ve got kidney disease.
I’ve heard (but, of course, can’t remember where) that you need to have Vitamin D to absorb calcium properly. Where better to put Vitamin D than in a substance that contains calcium?
UncleBeer noted above that the US and Switzerland put iodide in their salt. How do people in other countries keep up their iodide intake?
There’s been alot of research done on micronutrients and their impact on our ability to reach our full potential. There is the Int’l Council of the Control of Iodine Deficiency Disorders along with UNICEF and WHO’s websites which will give you lots of information on iodine deficiency.
I tried to find a website summary of a Nutrition PROFILES study done by BASICS in Mali, West Africa. PROFILES is a computer generated program which measures the impact of key nutrition interventions on economic development. The program looks at malnutrition, Vitamin A deficiency, iron deficiency and iodine deficiency, their costs on society [ie: slower learning and its impact on basic education costs, economic costs due to lower productivity, sick days etc.]. Unfortunately I couldn’t find it…
The bottomline is that these micronutrient deficiencies cost us millions of dollars over a ten year period - and this doesn’t count a monetary cost of lost lives.
It’s hard for us in well-off countries to understand what Vitamin A deficiency really means to millions of children under five years of age. It’s also hard to understand that iodine deficiency has a significant impact on a child’s ability to learn basic RRRs in elementary school.
There are simple techniques to fight these public health problems: Vitamin A supplements, iodized salt, vitamin fortified foods. Genetically modified foods such as Golden Rice which is Vitamin A enriched has great potential in solving many of these problems. Unfortunately we don’t know what the ultimate indirect impact is of GM foods and probably won’t know for sometime to come. Another issue is the increased cost of fortified foods, such as iodized salt, which doesn’t make these foods particularly attactive or affordable in rural African or Asian or Latin American areas.
The question becomes similar to childhood immunization programs: how willing are you to take the risk that some folks will not benefit, or may be harmed in the case of GM foods stuffs, while millions of others may live beyond the age of five, truely benefit from basic education, increase their productive lives and bare healthy children? For me, the question is a no-brainer.