Peter Leibert's Page

Iodine Deficiency 

The mineral iodine is missing from the soil in many parts of world.  This is the same soil which is used to grow the food for the animals and humans that live within the region.  It should not be surprising that such soil would result in plants and vegetables that do not contain iodine.  That also applies to weeds, trees, and other vegetation.  

Humans consume plants,  vegetables, and often the meat from animals.  Since the animals used for food by humans commonly have consumed plants, vegetables, weeds, grasses and tree leaves, it follows that in locales where iodine does not exist within the soil, the normal method for a human to obtain iodine would not work.  Humans, and also animals, would be deficient in iodine.    

The down side of iodine deficiency is that such a condition in both animals and human beings is known to be a major cause of a wide spectrum of abnormal and undesirable conditions that we think of as disorders.  These are known collectively as Iodine Deficiency Disorders (IDD).   

The most important effects of iodine deficiency are on the growth and development of the fetus, and the development of the child through aged four.  This is the time frame when a person’s brain is being developed.     

If an area is iodine deficient, IDD cannot be eliminated by changing dietary habits or eating certain kinds of foods grown in that area.  The correction has to be achieved by supplying iodine through an external source.   

This is currently most often being done by fortifying the commonly consumed mineral, salt.  Salt is one of the few commodities that comes close to being universally consumed daily by all sections of society irrespective of economic level. 

In the United States, iodized salt was introduced in 1924.  Endemic goiter had been wide spread in the Great Lakes area of the country and was known to be an easy disease to prevent through the provision of adequate amounts of iodine.  The concept of adding iodine to salt gained ground throughout the US, Canada, Australia and certain European countries. 

In 25 years, the average goiter rate in the US dropped from 35% to less than 2% through a volunteer program of urging the use of iodized salt.  Since the early 1950’s, goiter has largely disappeared in the US.  The United Nations currently has a program to make iodized salt available worldwide by the year 2000.