RE: Goiter Belts- How relevant is geography today?

[Guest guest]

>From: " sharflin " <sharflin@...>

>Reply-iodine

>iodine

>Subject: Goiter Belts- How relevant is geography today?

>Date: Wed, 14 Jun 2006 21:07:44 -0000

>

>I know in the past geography was critical in terms of iodine

>consumption due to soil composition (and of course availability of

>seafood). And I know some people try to buy local foods for health and

>other reasons, but when I consider my family and friends, I know most

>of them buy all their food out of a supermarket. My limited

>understanding of supermarket distribution is that much of the produce

>is shipped from around the country/world. So, I really have to wonder

>in those circumstances, if it makes sense to focus at all on goiter

>belts etc. when talking to my friends and family? Does it add any

>value to the conversation these days? It seems like I would just

>confuse the issue as those living near the ocean would just assume

>that they are getting enough and don't need to consider it? (I'm

>getting ready for a family visit...) Thoughts? Thanks! Sharon

That's a good question.

If the food disbribution network spread iodine around equally, why would

anyone need to take iodized salt any more?

Is the food distribution a good thing? It might increase the iodine intake

here in Michigan. Might also increase the perchlorate intake, something

that interferes with iodine intake, because I think a lot of produce is

grown in areas where that happens to be high.

If one drinks milk, depending on the practice of the dairy farmer and

dairies it comes from, it could have good levels of iodine. But, that's not

guaranteed.

Seafood is a good source of iodine. If you buy an orange from a grocery

store, by the time you eat it, doesn't it have less than 50% of the Vitamin

C it started with? Is the same true for iodine. I assure you, if I order

seafood in Michigan, it's not going to be the same quality as it is on the

coast of Virginia. I used to eat clam chowder on occassion, but now won't

do so unless I'm traveling to the coast. There's a big difference in the

quality of food that gets shipped long distances, and probably the

nutrients.

Want to buy produce from a third world country? Don't some still use DDT?

I think the concept of goiter belt is still relevant. How about this

concept, even away from the goiter belt the soil can become depleted -

http://www.helpmythyroid.com/iodine.htm

" In some areas of the US, including mountain regions, the Mississippi River

Valley, the Ohio River Valley, and the Great Lakes regions, the soil has

always had a very low iodine content. But even in other areas of once

iodine-rich soil, over farming has frequently depleted this iodine content.

Hence, we no longer get adequate iodine via the plants we consume. To

compensate for this, iodine was added to salt, bread, and milk. Today iodine

is no longer added to bread or to milk, and the amount of iodine added to

salt has steadily declined over the years. All of these factors contribute

to the current prevalence of iodine deficiency in the United States. "

*******************

Of course, our rate of iodine deficiency is going up -

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve & db=PubMed & list_uids=9\

768638 & dopt=Abstract

Low UI concentrations (<5 microg/dL) were found in 11.7% of the 1988-1994

population, a 4.5-fold increase over the proportion in the 1971-1974

population.

*****************

I wonder if there are any stats by geographic locations.

Skipper

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