Raising the World's IQ

Raising the World’s I.Q.

Travelers to Africa and Asia all have their favorite forms of foreign aid to “make a difference.” One of mine is a miracle substance that is cheap and actually makes people smarter.

Unfortunately, it has one appalling side effect. No, it doesn’t make you sterile, but it is just about the least sexy substance in the world. Indeed, because it’s so numbingly boring, few people pay attention to it or invest in it. (Or dare write about it!)..................

“Probably no other technology,” the World Bank said of micronutrients, “offers as large an opportunity to improve lives ... at such low cost and in such a short time.”

Yet the strategy hasn’t been fully put in place, partly because micronutrients have zero glamour. There are no starlets embracing iodine. And guess which country has taken the lead in this area by sponsoring the Micronutrient Initiative? Hint: It’s earnest and dull, just like micronutrients themselves.

Ta-da — Canada!..............

There is talk that President-elect Barack Obama may reorganize the American aid apparatus, perhaps turning it into a cabinet department. There are many competing good causes — I’m a huge believer in spending more on education and maternal health, in particular — but there may be no investment that gets more bang for the buck than micronutrients.

So, yes, salt iodization is boring. But if we can add 1 billion points to the global I.Q., then let’s lend strong American support — to a worthwhile Canadian initiative.

ABSTRACT
In addition to being an essential element in thyroid hormones,
iodine has many biological functions. The recommended dietary
intake of 100–-150 mcg is perhaps 100 times too low. Potential
benefits of higher amounts include enhancement of immune
function and reducing the incidence of breast cancer. Older studies
of therapeutic benefits, particularly with respect to fibrocystic breast
disease, need to be updated and expanded.

Most physicians and surgeons view iodine from the narrow
perspective of its use as an antiseptic that disinfects drinking water
and prevents surgical wound infections, and its presence in
thyroxine (T4) and triiodothyronine (T3). They consider iodine’s
sole function in the body is to be organically bound to the phenyl
ring of tyrosine in thyroid hormones. The thyroid gland needs only
a trace amount of iodine, 70 mcg/day, to synthesize the requisite
amounts of T4 and T3 used to regulate metabolism and ensure
normal growth and development.

Everyone agrees that a lack of iodine in the diet causes a
spectrum of disorders that includes, in increasing order of severity,
goiter and hypothyroidism, mental retardation, and cretinism.

From the New York Times, Dec. 4, 2008

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/04/op...04kristof.html

The iodine suppliment program started here in Canada with the Lions, the Rotary Club and other charitable organizations donating the time and resource to the poorer nations of the world.

I posted here about the impact of iodine on IQ 4-5 years ago. It's long been known, but not much has been done in impoverished countries.

David Marine (1880-1976) is the "father" of iodized salt in the United States; fortifying salt pioneered the approach of adding nutrients to foods. As the result of research on endemic goiter and iodine deficiency by Marine and co-workers research, the Michigan State Medical Society, in 1924, launched a goiter prevention program using iodized salt. It was the first example of a designed "functional food." Medical science since has identified a far more serious threat than the cosmetic problem of goiter -- mental retardation. The "hidden hunger" of iodine deficiency causes a 10-15% reduction in a population's IQ capability, mental retardation and cretinism.

A couple of years ago, I heard about the impact of iodine in Afghanistan during a presentation by Dr. Peter Salama MD - Chief, Child Survival and Immunization, UNICEF. He mentioned identifying some strange symptoms in Afghan patients, which had not seen in modern times in the industrialized nations. Many people, particularly children, where severely malnourished and were suffering from scurvy and other diseases due to vitamin deficiencies. Iodine was also one critical element that was lacking, and that had been a chronic problem in Afghanistan.

In the early part of this decade in Afghanistan, the following statics were measured:

• Under five mortality: 257/1000 LBs (1 in 4 children die by age of 5 - diarrhea kills 1/3 of this population, measles about 1/4)
• Infant mortality: 165/1000 LBs (16% infant mortality)
• Maternal mortality ratio: high
• Malnutrition prevalence: high
• Incidence communicable diseases: high
• Life Expectancy: 45 – 47 years

Some progress has been made. Iodized salt is being distributed, but there are significant problems with distribution in remote areas, such as Badakhshan and areas where Taliban and al Qaida operate. And there is the problem of government corruption.

MI Facilitates Workshop with UNICEF on Universal Salt Iodization (USI) Legislation in Afghanistan

January 2008

Although it is rare in the solar system and Earth's crust, the iodides are very soluble in water, and the element is concentrated in seawater. This mechanism helps to explain how the element came to be required in trace amounts by all animals and some plants, being by far the heaviest element known to be necessary to living organisms.

The recommended dietary
intake of 100–-150 mcg is perhaps 100 times too low.

A good article on iodine.

http://pubs.acs.org/doi/full/10.1021/es0719071

*fixed*

edit: and i just skimmed that article evo, but one anecdote i wanted to mention. i've been told by someone that works in the food industry that although iodized table salt is common in the US now, salt in prepared foods is not required to be iodized. perhaps someone else here with some inside knowledge could comment (i'm not even sure how to go about verifying that), but considering that more americans are now relying on manufactured instead of home-cooked meals, it could add considerably to the deficiency problem.

That's discussed in the article. I know it's long, but it's very informative.

Thanks for fixing the link!

Contrary to popular belief, the vast majority of salt in the U.S. diet is not iodized. Approximately 70% of the salt is used commercially−virtually none of the salt used by the preprepared or the fast food industry is iodized.

Am I supposed to know why my post was deleted?

You didn't receive the message I sent you? Your link wasn't to a valid source.