types of salts and iodine

[Kari55]

Edit: thank for all the responses. It looks like when the salt is iodised, it would be stated on the packaging. Himalayan, Celtic and sea salt contain iodine naturally whereas rock salt doesn’t. I use Bart’s rock salt and they confirmed it’s non iodised.

hi, I Have Graves so should avoid iodine. Does anyone know whether there is iodine in rock salt and Himalayan salt?

[Kari55]

I meant I should avoid iodine not salt 🙈

[helvella in reply to Kari55]

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[Kari55 in reply to helvella]

Thank you! I know how to edit now ☺️

[greygoose]

There's no iodine in Pink Hymalayan, because it's a long way from the sea. But, I've no idea about rock salt.

[janeroar in reply to greygoose]

The Himalayas were once under the sea. It was called the Tethys Ocean. 😊

Raw sea salt does have a tiny amount of iodine in but not enough for daily needs which is why they add it in. Levothyroxine has some added in so we don’t need to take additional iodine.

Mountainous areas where the soils had been leeched of minerals like iodine had / have a lot of people suffering from goitres. Thats why salt was iodised. Coastal areas that benefited from all the minerals being washed down into their soil had less problem with iodine deficiency.

Goitres used to be so common in Nepal they were considered a sign of beauty but now it’s swung the other way since the successful introduction of iodised salt, too much it it is being consumed and there’s been a big increase in hyperthyroidism

If you’re interested in this sort of thing (like me!) I love this paper on the case of Nepal. ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articl...

[Kari55 in reply to janeroar]

So interesting! Thank you for sharing!

[greygoose in reply to janeroar]

Levothyroxine has some added in so we don’t need to take additional iodine.

No, levo does not have iodine 'added in'. Iodine is an ingredient of T4, that's how it gets its name: 4 atoms of iodine for every 1 molecule of T4. And it's the removal of 1 atom of iodine that converts T4 into T3. Without iodine there's no thyroid hormone.

[janeroar in reply to greygoose]

Wow, didn't know that!

[Silvermoon2 in reply to greygoose]

thanks grey goose !

[greygoose in reply to Silvermoon2]

You're welcome.

[Kapuna in reply to janeroar]

Many US folks living in the Great Lakes area (Lake Erie and others) had little iodine and developed thyroid problems. My mom’s aunts were among them and after seeing pictures of my grandfather (he died in 1925), I suspect he did, too. Mom had no thyroid function after she was 6 and both my daughter and I had Graves. So the same thing that happened in Nepal was endemic here in the States.

[Kari55 in reply to Kapuna]

It’s hard to get the iodine balance!

[janeroar in reply to Kapuna]

oh gosh that's dreadful. Its still a huge health problem in some parts of the world that don't have access to a good balanced diet and where the soil is low in iodine

[helvella]

Afraid you really need to check each product.

However, the reason that iodine is added to salt (as in iodised salt) is that most salt is fairly low in iodine. If it had decent amounts of iodine, they wouldn't need to add it.

Iodised salt (also called iodinated) is not usual in the UK. But check everything. Some mass-produced food is made with iodised salt - especially if it it Polish or German.

[Kari55 in reply to helvella]

Thank you, when I buy Himalayan or rock, I could never find any information unfortunately.

[helvella in reply to Kari55]

greygoose is right about genuine Himalayan salt.

And I too have sometimes found it difficult to find the information - though the decent producers usually have the information on their websites.