Iodine

When I was a kid, my mother always bought Diamond Crystal iodized salt. When I moved away from home, Diamond Crystal salt was not available and the brands I had to choose from did not have the added iodine. My mother was very concerned. "Iodine is essential for good health and we don't get enough in our regular diets," she informed me.

Times have changed. My doctor wanted me to have a thyroid scan (no worries, everything is fine). I had to eat a low-iodine diet for two weeks before hand. Guess what is in everything we eat? E-v-e-r-y-t-h-i-n-g!

The instructions were thorough. No dairy, including eggs. Eggs? How does iodine get into eggs? Through the chicken feed, of course. No baked goods, cereals or grains. No table salt with iodine and no products made with salt. No soy, nothing from the sea, including fish oil tablets. No chocolate.

In other words, fresh fruit, fresh veggies and fresh meats. Simple enough. But bland. Fortunately, the non-iodized salt is still available or it could have been a whole lot worse. I didn't go hungry, but, I did miss my favorites--eggs, cheese and nuts. And chocolate.

But it's not my plan to bore you with my boring eating regimen. My whole focus during this "adventure" was, where did all the iodine come from? How did it happen that in a few decades we went from not enough iodine to having it in nearly everything we eat?

Did all food manufacturers decide to protect the public's health by putting iodine in everything they made? If you think you hear a little sarcasm, you're wrong. That was a great, big dollop of sarcasm. I'm quite sure that everything food companies do is to increase sales. If they do actually make a healthier alternative ... it's to increase sales.

My best guess is that it has to do with all the processing so much of our foods go through. I can't help but wonder why iodine is needed for that, but I haven't the foggiest.

If anyone knows anything about any of this, please chime in. I'm curious.

But I'm too lazy to do the research.