Organic and UHT milk could put unborn babies at risk, says study

[helvella]

Whilst I might be very cautious regarding iodine supplementation, there is an absolute need for a sufficient iodine, hopefully in our diets. This story is concerning:

Organic and UHT milk could put unborn babies at risk, says study

Other types of milk, perceived as having health benefits, contain less iodine, which is essential for brain development in foetuses

theguardian.com/lifeandstyl...

[bobsmydog]

I have wondered about the filtered milk I've been buying the last few years (Cravendale). It says it filters out bacteria so it keeps longer but I do wonder if it filters out iodine too, just like water filters take out the chlorine. Just another of my little theories!

[bobsmydog in reply to bobsmydog]

Ok, so I asked Cravendale and the iodine isn't filtered out:-

" I have just checked and there is approx. 15mg of iodine per 100ml. We do not remove this, we only remove the bacteria that causes souring"

I think they probably meant to say 15mcg and not 15mg though!

[helvella Administrator Thyroid UK in reply to bobsmydog]

This is a real question: Why do you buy filtered milk?

And congratulations on actually asking.

[bobsmydog in reply to helvella]

Ah, it lasts longer and I think tastes better. No more sniffing the milk, no need!

[helvella Administrator Thyroid UK in reply to bobsmydog]

What about degradation of the milk by non-bacterial processes, for example, oxidisation?

[bobsmydog in reply to helvella]

It still has a life - just longer than unfiltered milk (not long life like UHT)

[Ana_conda]

Hmmm...looks more like an attempt by the dairy biz to counter the bad rap pasteurized milk has been getting lately by presenting convoluted "evidence".

Nutritionally speaking, cow's milk - whether in organic or not - isn't a huge source of natural iodine anyhow. But here's a quote from the same article about iodine from the journal of British Dairy Herd Management which was also used as the basis for the "Guardian" article . It's clear that the information was taken "slightly" out of context :

"...in the United Kingdom, iodine supplements provided to conventional dairy cow diets translated into an “accidental public health triumph,” curing decades of human iodine deficiency without adding the chemical to salt or bread as is done in many countries."

dairyherd.com/news/british-...

In other words, as in "other countries", iodine is artificially added to the food which has the greatest likelihood of benefiting the greatest number of people. In the US, it was table salt. In the UK it's cow's milk. But despite decades of iodine supplementation in the US, people are more iodine deficient than ever, with tens of thousands walking around with symptoms of hypothyroidism at younger and younger ages! What nobody tells you, is that the type of iodine used is a synthetic derivative - not the real deal. Maybe that's the reason?

I recently came across an interesting "medical hypothesis" about the rise in thyroid disorders in an article by Dr. John Dommisse :

"It is well known that the original cause of most cases of hypothyroidism was iodine deficiency.7 In an effort to deal with that issue in a cost-effective manner, public health officials called for the substitution of iodized salt for non-iodized salt on all our grocery store shelves. This measure has taken the edge off the iodine deficiency problems of yesteryear—although not by any means completely, as good measurements of both organic and inorganic iodine levels in patients’ blood or urine would show. But has anyone in thyroidology stopped to recognize the fact that we have actually substituted many more cases of autoimmune thyroiditis and primary hypothyroidism for the relatively fewer cases of iodine deficiency hypothyroidism that existed previously?

Could the mechanism for this phenomenon be that we used the wrong form of iodine—inorganic instead of organic— as a food supplement, and that this harsh form of iodine actually damages the thyroid tissue enough to trigger our immune systems to react against it? I believe this is a question that, at the very least, deserves serious consideration and investigation...

In the mean time, I am recommending that my patients forego the iodized salt on the shelves of their grocery stores and use genuine 80-mineral sea salt instead, which also tastes much better! "

westonaprice.org/modern-dis...

[helvella Administrator Thyroid UK in reply to Ana_conda]

What do you mean by organic and inorganic? I assume the usual chemistry definitions.

The iodine in sea-salt is, I believe, mostly inorganic. Some time ago I posted that in some far-off land they were feeding chickens with high-iodine diets and by so doing, producing eggs with quite high iodine content. I think a fair proportion of that iodine is in the form of organic compounds.

[bobsmydog in reply to Ana_conda]

I wonder why this conclusion has been reached by Dr John Dommisse, as hypothyroid patients aren't actually tested for iodine deficiency so how can they know? They only test for antibodies. Those with autoimmune disease might also be iodine deficient for all we know.

"But has anyone in thyroidology stopped to recognize the fact that we have actually substituted many more cases of autoimmune thyroiditis and primary hypothyroidism for the relatively fewer cases of iodine deficiency hypothyroidism that existed previously"