When I was in my 20s, I became terrified of the idea of having a goiter. This is probably because I was extremely vain and I’d already experienced mumps — despite being vaccinated! I was scarred by the visual of yet another massive growth on the side of my neck.
It’s also probably because I was taking a class about public policy and had just found out about the existence of goiters caused by iodine deficiency. Public health officials, I learned, took the proverbial wheel back from Jesus and started recommending iodine be added to common table sale to curb the problem.
What I did not ever consider until many years later was that there were myriad other ways that iodine deficiency impacted the general population (and still does today, in ares where iodized salt is not common, where diets are largely based on meats and grains, and among vegetarians/vegans and also hippies who use exclusively ~sea salt~).
Goiter? I hardly know her
No really, keep that goiter life away from me. I mean, no shame to anyone who has a goiter but I’m still an extremely vain person.
Anyway, I recently found myself doing a bit of Night Googling about thyroid disorders for uh reasons that are not at all hypochondria-adjacent, and ended up reading about the importance of iodine. Iodine is the brown stuff they smear on your arm before you give blood and it’s also a micronutrient that is essential to thyroid hormone production. Hence, no iodine, no goiter-free future.
We know about this link because some salt throughout the world has naturally-occurring iodine. From the absolutely riveting read, Research on iodine deficiency and goiter in the 19th and early 20th centuries:
In the 1830s, the French nutritional chemist, Jean Baptiste Boussingault, observed that the prevalence of goiter was increased in areas where naturally-occurring iodized salt was infrequently consumed and recommended the distribution of naturally iodized salt for public consumption.
Initial attempts to add iodine to all salt didn’t land, but by the 1920s, it had become a lot more common, especially in the United States. And, as a result, phew! Fewer goiters. Hallelujah!
But iodine deficiency has a lot of other outcomes, too. And that’s when it gets interesting for the purposes of this newsletter.
Your Brain On Regular Salt
Iodine deficiency for adults can mess up the thyroid, but in kiddos who’s hormone machines haven’t quite come online yet, it can still have an impact. Twenty years ago, a German team researched the impact of iodine on kids in school and found that those “with increased urinary iodine concentrations had a significantly greater increase in performance on the combination of mental tests than did the group with no change in urinary iodine concentrations.” It’s also been linked to brain damage, learning difficulties (which can impact behavior), and depression.
A 2020 study even came right out and said the bad news, stating that “low selenium and [iodine] levels may contribute to the development of anxiety and depression, independent of thyroid functions, in patients with ENG. In these patients, selenium and iodine replacement may be useful for the prevention of anxiety and depression, especially in deficient regions.”
Which leads me to two questions:
When iodine was added to salt, did state hospitals and local doctors see a decrease in individuals with symptoms of depression? This is nearly impossible data to track down for a litany of reasons, but I’m definitely curious. I tried to do some searching for research which definitively linked the two but it was mostly loose. Which, I mean, good enough for me but that’s just me. And,
Is decreasing iodine intake — which is actually a thing right now — one of the reasons we all feel so god-awful all the time? Among, you know, the catastrophic downfall of our democracy and the reckless destruction of trust in higher offices by fascist forces? Also hard to say.
But here’s what I do know: Unless you’re swiping the little brown bottle from the Red Cross lady and doing straight shots of the stuff, it’s unlikely that you’re going to get too much. It’s also not that hard to add iodine to your diet, just in case it’s one of the many factors behind your misery. Foods rich in iodine include: Fish, dairy, lima beans, seaweed, and more.
Plus — because I feel the need to say this again — no! Goiters!