Earlier quoted context omitted.
Iodized salt is quite the norm in Germany. You can buy the non -iodized version which is better for bread baking. But most everyone I know has iodized salt at home. Also doesn't water fluoridation cost a few IQ points? In the end I could imagine the effects cancelling each other out.
> Also doesn't water fluoridation cost a few IQ points? Yes https://ntp.niehs.nih.gov/whatwestudy/assessments/noncancer/...
Adding iodine to salt played a role in cognitive improvements: research (2013)
151–160 of 180 posts
Re: Adding iodine to salt played a role in cognitive improvements: research (2013)
#152Earlier quoted context omitted.
I can get non-iodized salt, use a septic tank, not wear shoes, and skip vaccines (and home school) if I so choose to. I can't choose to get unfloridated water from the public system. It's a little odd that a public health intervention has been prescribed to everyone en masse.
Dig a well.
Re: Adding iodine to salt played a role in cognitive improvements: research (2013)
#153Burger 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.
I finally kicked the habit when I went to college. There were no salt shakers out on the tables. After the first semester I went home and nearly choked on the level of salt on the food.
Re: Adding iodine to salt played a role in cognitive improvements: research (2013)
#154Earlier quoted context omitted.
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 w…
The RDA for iodine is 150 mcg, so 325 should normally draw concern. However, the average iodine intake in Japan is well over 1000 mcg, to no ill effect. Too much iodine is definitely bad, but the dosage that is firmly established as causing problems (oddly, a similar effect as too little iodine) is at least another order of magnitude beyond the Japanese intake. (There may be weird interactions between iodine and fluoride, but that recent data is still very tentative and suspect, and even at 325 mcg/day isn't concerning.)
Supplements are made from kelp, so there's potential issues with heavy metals. But, again, the average Japanese intake of the types of heavy metals kelp accumulates is multiples of the US RDA limit, to no known ill effect. However, there are no USP or similar reputably certified iodine supplements, only certified multivitamins with iodine. That's more concerning to me than anything else.
Nonetheless, FWIW I give my kids an iodine supplement once or twice a week. I also cook with iodized salt, but we eat out or consume prepared food enough times in a week that I figured a supplement was worthwhile, all things considered. RDAs are typically computed by measuring urine excretion, so it's possible "topping up" iodine that way might not be very effective--just quickly excreted. I dunno.
Cows milk can be a good source of iodine, but my kids don't consume milk regularly, and only one drinks cows milk. Fortunately, they do like anchovies, so I try to add those into the mix.
Re: Adding iodine to salt played a role in cognitive improvements: research (2013)
#155Earlier quoted context omitted.
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 pe…
The blog post above didn't take long to go off the rails. Already in the introduction, the only "experts" in favor of high iodine are a bunch of quacks saying it can cure cancer. I have no sympathy for these fellows who are making a quick buck on the backs of vulnerable cancer patients.
Re: Adding iodine to salt played a role in cognitive improvements: research (2013)
#156need to cook food for dog due to medical reasons, and one of ingredients is iodized salt. so i had a quick look at this topic. so, as far as i remember: - different brands have different amount of iodine - iodine dissipates from opened salt container, with speed of dissipation been dependant on temperature and humidity - if you cook with iodized salt, most of it iodine disappears (depends on brand. some retain more )
Re: Adding iodine to salt played a role in cognitive improvements: research (2013)
#157Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Also doesn't water fluoridation cost a few IQ points? No, it does not. This is speculation based on a poor understanding of the actual science. Most of our fluoride exposure comes from eating normal food, water fluoridation is a small fraction of that. There are no measurable cognitive effects in the many developed parts of the world with natural fluoride levels far higher than used in municipal fluoridation. Furth…
> The absence of a plausible mechanism of action alone should raise serious questions. I'm just a layperson, so forgive the possibly dumb question: why would this be weighted so heavily? I read it as "we can't think of how this could work, so we should assume it doesn't". But that just seems like hubris to me.
Fluorine has the strongest electronegativity of any element in the periodic table. It requires extreme measures to muscle fluorine off a molecule. This is why it is used in non-stick surfaces like Teflon (nothing can “grip” the surface molecules because fluorine won’t let it) and why it is used in toothpaste (molecules that might attack the tooth surface chemically can’t compete with the fluoride that is already there). The dark side of this is that it is difficult to contain fluorine compounds, they have a tendency to attack most containers you can put them in that aren’t also fluorine based. Famously, they tend to eat glass so you can’t store it in glass vessels.
The toxicity of fluorine flows from this. It has an insatiable appetite for Type II metals, notably calcium and magnesium in the human body. If you are exposed to fluorine, it will have a seek-and-destroy mission for these metal ions. A typical human body has a lot of calcium and magnesium circulating so it can absorb exposure from diet, water, etc. The net effect is that some calcium and magnesium is removed from circulation and is no longer bio-available. Not a big deal. In extreme exposure cases, like an industrial accident, the way it kills you isn’t toxicity per se but by removing all of the calcium ions from your system. Your heart uses calcium ions for electrical signaling, so if those are all neutralized by ravenous fluorine, your heart stops.
The antidote for extreme fluorine exposure is to ingest a bunch of simple calcium and magnesium salts. The fluorine latches on to the surplus floating around and there is enough left for your heart to keep running.
This is where the mechanism of action question comes in. For fluorine to have biological effects on cognition, the body would have to be so devoid of neutralizing calcium and magnesium ions, which it strongly prefers as a matter of physics, that you’d already be dead. In extreme exposure cases (like getting concentrated fluorine compound spilled on you) with prophylactic calcium/magnesium antidote, it does really nasty damage to the bones, but there has never been a case of cognitive damage that I’ve ever seen mentioned in the safety literature.
Fluorine is a nasty element, I don’t miss working with it, but it isn’t a serious threat in trace quantities because human bodies can easily absorb the loss of calcium and magnesium. Human bodies are tolerant of almost all elemental toxins at natural levels. The few for which there is no evidence of tolerance at even trace levels are elements like mercury. Even elements like arsenic and lead are believed to be required by human biology to some extent and therefore the human body has some evolved tolerance for them. (These two are pub quiz material, most people are shocked to find out that these are necessary micronutrients.)
Re: Adding iodine to salt played a role in cognitive improvements: research (2013)
#158Earlier quoted context omitted.
So, what is wrong with the statement?
At best, it doesn't say anything useful. You can say the same thing about carbon, nitrogen, hydrogen, etc. At worst, it implies that, like essential amino acids, it CAN be synthesized by some living organism.
Re: Adding iodine to salt played a role in cognitive improvements: research (2013)
#159Earlier quoted context omitted.
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 col…
Re: Adding iodine to salt played a role in cognitive improvements: research (2013)
#160> 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.