Live data from Hacker News

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

discovermagazine.com

21–30 of 180 posts

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

#23

> 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.

I long for the day when my liver can also act as a particle accelerator

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

#24
post #23

> 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.

I long for the day when my liver can also act as a particle accelerator

The kidneys? A pair of calutrons.

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

#25
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

Most european countries would like to disagree

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

#26
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?

> why don't they make iodized flaky salt?

They'll figure out a way eventually, but it is definitely harder.

It is always easy to grow something uniform as a pure crystal, without fault lines on them causing crumbling.

As a kid who spent a lot of time with chemistry, it used to fascinate me that you can crystallize out a clean salt crystal out of a mix of potassium permanganate and salt, the salt grain will grow pretty much pure salt on it without a hint of purple (also burned my nose skin off collecting chlorine from the exercise, talk to your local chemistry teacher and find out why).

I never succeeded in making a colored salt transparent crystal.

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

#27

> 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.

Explanation: 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.

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

#28

> 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.

Yeah, from Wikipedia:

> An essential nutrient is a nutrient required for normal physiological function that cannot be synthesized in the body (...) The nutrients considered essential for humans comprise nine amino acids, two fatty acids, thirteen vitamins, fifteen minerals and choline.

While some of these can be synthesized by other animals, this is not the case of minerals like iodine. I believe only organic compounds can be synthesized by animals.

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

#29
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…

I 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.

When 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.

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

#30

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…

But 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!

Post reply on HN