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

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

#131

Post by simondotau »

ak217 wrote: post #71
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…

> downward trend ... sodium was seen as bad Excess sodium intake is associated with cardiovascular disease and heart failure. Salt is also an opportunistic carrier for iodine supplementation. So to call it good or bad, you'd need to either come up with an epidemiological study of the two diseases relative to each other, or maybe propose an alternative carrier for the iodine supplementation.

> Excess sodium intake is associated with cardiovascular disease and heart failure.

The evidence for this is poor, and there is some evidence to the contrary.[0] Right now it is difficult to assert that there's anything more than a correlation, possibly because many popular high salt food choices could be bad for reasons other than sodium (e.g. fast food staples). In recent decades, widespread success of anti-salt messaging means that lower salt intake is now highly correlated with eating a healthy diet.

There's no first-order harm in a low salt diet, but there may be some second-order concerns. For example, when food manufacturers are pushed to reduce salt, their arsenal for achieving hyperpalatability becomes narrowed to objectively worse things like sugar and refined seed oils.

--

[0] "The field of heart failure has evolved [...] There is now substantial randomized trial data to indicate that dietary sodium restriction does not provide the reduction in clinical events with accepted heterogeneity in the clinical trial results." https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38215917/ (2024)

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

#133

Post by tzs »

connicpu wrote: post #76
dkarl wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

It 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.

> 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.

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

#134

Post by _yb2s »

ufo wrote: post #128
_yb2s wrote: post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It’s not widely used in mainstream medicine, but carefully tuned pharmacologic doses of iodine can successfully treat hypothyroidism for some people- such as the person you are replying to. It’s an “alternative medicine” thing but the biological mechanism and effect are real and understood. It should not be confused with regular dietary needs for someone that isn’t intentionally trying out a non mainstream medical in…

The most common kinds of hypothyroidism are due to the thyroid being damaged. Adding iodine can't help, but there are several known ways it can be harmful.

> Adding iodine can't help

Iodine can still push forward the pathways that synthesize thyroid hormones and increase levels, even in many cases where the thyroid is damaged, e.g. hashimotos. In fact, most hormones can have their synthesis pushed by megadosing on their chemical precursors- however that can be unsafe of course.

Yes, it can be harmful, and depends on context- but you'll find a ton of info online about people successfully self treating hypothyroidism with high dose iodine.

Here is some more detail on the context, and mechanism for why people often react differently to this:

https://perfecthealthdiet.com/2011/05/iodine-and-hashimotos-... https://perfecthealthdiet.com/2011/05/iodine-and-hashimotos-...

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

#136

Post by 29athrowaway »

taeric wrote: post #116
29athrowaway wrote: post #115

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I see. Most sea salt also has no iodine if that's a concern.

I 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.

You can seaweed, another source of iodine.

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

#137

Post by tzs »

MawKKe wrote: post #61
blueflow wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

I mean, it's possible that at some point evolution produced such nuclear reactored individual, but who got "naturally selected" rather quickly for obvious reasons

See the Isaac Asimov story "Pâté de Foie Gras" from the September 1956 issue of Astounding Science Fiction, available here [1] on the Internet Archive.

[1] https://archive.org/details/sim_astounding-science-fiction_1...

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

#138

Post by shortrounddev2 »

PKop wrote: post #126
shortrounddev2 wrote: post #102

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I believe that you've selected a single study based on your existing biases and are basing your entire opinion off of it, rather than having done an honest amount of research into the nuances of the issue

It's a recent meta analysis and isn't the only one shaping my view, but this issue has been raised for a long time. I'm asking you directly: why would you make this tradeoff? Makes no sense. Do you just accept it because that's the way things are, you're told it's good? I don't get it. Why would you preference a dubious need for your teeth easily mitigated by just taking care of them, over potential harm to your kids…

> Why would you preference a dubious need for your teeth easily mitigated by just taking care of them, over potential harm to your kids (plus societies kids) brains?

Because I reject your premise

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

#139

Post by ThrustVectoring »

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…

Saltier tasting salt is likely counterproductive, IMO. People aren't born knowing how much salt taste corresponds to how much salt consumption, so that gets tuned by persistent salt deficits causing upregulation of salty food desire. In other words, homeostatic feedback causes salt consumption to stay about the same by increased consumption of salty-tasting processed food.

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

#140

Post by kazinator »

amelius wrote: post #123
kazinator wrote: post #47

> 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.

So, what is wrong with the statement?

If "wrong" means "false", then nothing!

While the statement is not false, it has a kind of type error. Iodine is not in a category that can or cannot be synthesized in organisms (or any chemical reactions). We only talk about molecules in this category: e.g. Vitamin C can be synthesized in some organisms, but not others.

The following is also not a false statement: household waste isn't handled by the JVM garbage collector. However, at least we know it was written in jest. To nitpick that one would be to betray not getting the computer science dad joke.

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