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Don't buy salt as an iodine substitute

S

snapper.fishes

Android Expert
Whoever that started the trend of buying tablet salt for iodine intake is an absolute idiot. Here's why.

1 iodine tablet = 0.00015 g of iodine
Table salt iodine content = 22 ppm
Equivalent table salt (mass) = 0.00015/22*1,000,000 = 6.82 g
Daily recommended sodium intake limit = 2.3 g

22 ppm is the typical UK iodized salt content. According to wiki, US salt has a higher iodized content. The maximum amount you can get is 77 ppm. That's about 1.9 g of salt, so below the recommended limit. But salt exists naturally in all kinds of food, so unless if you don't eat anything for the day, you will probably still exceed the limit.

Enjoy your kidney failure.
 
^^^

That. Thanks to our wonderfully intelligent Surgeon General though, the panic on the west coast wasn't helped yesterday.
 
It's stupid panic anyway. All iodine tablets do is protect your thyroid from radiation. The rest of your body will glow in the dark, but at least your thyroid will be fine.
 
A.Nonymous said:
It's stupid panic anyway. All iodine tablets do is protect your thyroid from radiation. The rest of your body will glow in the dark, but at least your thyroid will be fine.
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I think we are talking about two different things here. There actual is an iodine requirement in the human diet. I would assume that the different ratios in iodine have to do mostly with people's eating habits. In America, we consume a ton of salt, so adding iodine to that salt was an easy way to help get you to your daily needs. This doesn't innately make it a bad idea. There isn't anything that says you HAVE to get your daily dose of iodine from salt. It's not less idiotic than calcium (or any other vitamin, mineral, or nutrient) fortified product. People generally won't consume ONLY that said product as means of their daily needs.
 
lordofthereef said:
I think we are talking about two different things here. There actual is an iodine requirement in the human diet. I would assume that the different ratios in iodine have to do mostly with people's eating habits. In America, we consume a ton of salt, so adding iodine to that salt was an easy way to help get you to your daily needs. This doesn't innately make it a bad idea. There isn't anything that says you HAVE to get your daily dose of iodine from salt. It's not less idiotic than calcium (or any other vitamin, mineral, or nutrient) fortified product. People generally won't consume ONLY that said product as means of their daily needs.
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Their talking about iodine tablets distributed to prevent radiation poisoning.

Yes, your body needs iodine... but radioactive iodine gets released from things like the Japan nuclear plant disaster. So, people take iodine pills, so their thyroid loads up on iodine and then doesn't absorb the radioactive iodine.

There was no need for anyone in the US to be taking iodine tablets, much less substituting salt for it, out of fears of radiation exposure.
 
cipher6 said:
Their talking about iodine tablets distributed to prevent radiation poisoning.

Yes, your body needs iodine... but radioactive iodine gets released from things like the Japan nuclear plant disaster. So, people take iodine pills, so their thyroid loads up on iodine and then doesn't absorb the radioactive iodine.

There was no need for anyone in the US to be taking iodine tablets, much less substituting salt for it, out of fears of radiation exposure.
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Read the original post bud. That has nothing to do with radiation poisoning, which is all I was pointing out. The following two posts made it that way. If that is what was imlied by this, well, I guess I missed it.
 
Yeah, pretty sure that's what was implied, because when he posted it, was when people in the US were panicking buying up all the iodine tablets, and there were no more at the stores... it was a big thing in the news at that time.
 
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