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Adding iodine to salt played a role in cognitive improvements: research (2013)

discovermagazine.com

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Re: Adding iodine to salt played a role in cognitive improvements: research (2013)

#11

Post by duskwuff »

See also: 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.)

Re: Adding iodine to salt played a role in cognitive improvements: research (2013)

#13

Post by jrootabega »

> 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.

Re: Adding iodine to salt played a role in cognitive improvements: research (2013)

#14

Post by jeffbee »

zwieback wrote: post #12

I 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...

Switzerland is the exemplar of a place without environmental iodine, right?

Re: Adding iodine to salt played a role in cognitive improvements: research (2013)

#15

Post by spacemanspiff01 »

zwieback wrote: post #12

I 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...

Can't comment on the bad teeth, but I don't think iodine is causing your c++ issues...

Re: Adding iodine to salt played a role in cognitive improvements: research (2013)

#16

Post by cgh »

zwieback wrote: post #12

I 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...

Denmark iodizes its salt. Therefore, C++ is unnecessarily complex.

Re: Adding iodine to salt played a role in cognitive improvements: research (2013)

#17

Post by PKop »

shortrounddev2 wrote: post #10
jeffbee wrote: post #6

Iodized salt, sanitary sewers, and shoes are the showcase achievements of public health, aside from vaccines and whatnot that people associate with progress in medicine.

Fluoridated water too

Nope. 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/...

Re: Adding iodine to salt played a role in cognitive improvements: research (2013)

#18

Post by sitkack »

burnte wrote: post #2

Public health generally works!

> 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.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/

[2] 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

Mapping Postnatal Neuronal Migration: A Late Path to Neurodevelopmental Disorders https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E4FZiv-rtTU

Neurogenesis in the mammalian brain https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B2RINOAeONw

Re: Adding iodine to salt played a role in cognitive improvements: research (2013)

#19

Post by eddythompson80 »

zwieback wrote: post #12

I 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...

I guess there is a reason Germans blamed the Jews for all their bullshit.

Re: Adding iodine to salt played a role in cognitive improvements: research (2013)

#20

Post by FriedPickles »

gopalv wrote: post #5

Burger 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/ (on re…

Hmm, why don't they make iodized flaky salt?
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