we all know that Iodine is essential for normal development of the brain. we only need 

 90 micro grams  /day for children between 0 and 5 years. many countries and organizations recommended IODIZED salt   

Hello Saifeldin,

If you want to know about the status about IDD (Iodine Deficiency Disorder) in India and steps taken by Indian government to cope with IDD, you can refer this publication:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3818611/

Thanks,

Rishu

thank you dear Kumar , this will help me so much in understanding the practice of how to cope with  IDD

I think prevetive measures should be employed at the community  level

Dear Saifeldin Mohamed Khair Abdelrahim!  Please evaluate the experience of professionals working in this field (some papers in the attachment).

Vladimir

Some adding for evaluation this problem.

My direct experience as a clinician adult, is the identification of iodine deficiency in patients who develop hypothyroidism. The solution is not administering iodine them, but treat low thyroid hormone production, administering medication as levothyroxine (novotiral for example).

As manager of health policy, I am aware of the large number of newborns with congenital hypothyroidism or adolescents and adults who developed hypothyroid goiter in communities where drinking water was obtained from contaminated by heavy metals or wells were "hard" water with lots of minerals.

This was very evident in the middle of the last century in my country (Mexico). From this evidence and other obtained by epidemiological research, Public Health made the decision to add fluoride to the "hard water" (for other health problems was also atrophy of dentin), chlorine stagnant water or contaminated by microorganisms and iodine to drinking water in endemic goiter hypothyroid sites.

Sincerely

Dr. Jose Luis Garcia Vigil

Thank you Dr. Luis 

 you mentioned two important  points 

 management of hypothyroidism

water quality control ( hard wand contaminated water) 

 your answer is highly appreciated

BY USING IODINATED SALT

the iodine problem is very critical and easy/cheap to solve. one of way is to provide iodine and mixture machine to salt manufucture from government initiative, machine cost can be reduce by locally made and the cost of iodine is also cheap. on other hand, by media and other local communication, an awareness program can be launched that also help people to understand the importance of iodine.

Thank you Dr Shah  you have added  a considerable  answer  which will contribute to solve the problem . I agree with you that the media could have a great role in IDD awareness 

My deepest thanks 

Saif 

In the past decades, the Philippine government (through the DOH - Department of Health) had thoroughly campaigned for the use of iodized salt. The DOH even gave free iodized salt to the people through the local community health centers. 

Dear Dr. Romer 

This is a good point. Fine addition 

Thank you brother 

The government of Rwanda ensures availability of adequately iodized salt.

Iodine supplementation

I am not a medical doctor, and so in the US I am by law prohibited from diagnosing or prescribing.  However, I have firsthand experience with iodine insufficiency, and have done a lot of reading and talking to people about their experiences with it that I would like to share for educational and discussion purposes only. 

First, you must keep fluoride out of the water, food, and medicine, and bromide out of your bread, food, drinks, drugs, and other environmental exposures.  These elements greatly increase the need for iodine in the diet.

In the USA we used to use iodine in bread as a dough conditioner, salt was iodized, and dairy cow udders were washed with iodine prior to milking.  Americans used to eat a good amount of seafood, especially those anywhere near the coastlines.  These practices provided sufficient iodine in the diet for most people.  Exposure to toxins that cause a greater need for nutritional iodine such as bromide and fluoride was lower.  This has all changed, however, resulting in the majority of US Americans lacking sufficient iodine. 

The drinking water (and water for crops, also) has been fluoridated in many of our cities.  Bromide has been substituted as a dough conditioner for most breads.  Now, much salt in the US is not iodized, and government advice tells us not to eat salt, even for pregnant and nursing mothers!  Neither industry nor households are urged or required to use iodized salt, either, and many people here eat a large amount of industrial processed food. 

The practice of washing dairy cow udders with a sterilizing iodine solution has been discontinued, so milk and dairy are no longer a source of dietary iodine in the USA.  Furthermore, feeding standards have changed so that cattle are not fed as much iodine as before.  Cattle, especially dairy animals, do much better with kelp added to their diet, and the meat and dairy they produce will be much more nutritious. 

Americans in the US have been told to eat less seafood.  The government cites the high levels of mercury in some types of seafood.  However, the exposure of the population to mercury is much greater due to widely-used mercury-silver amalgam dental fillings most people have in their teeth.  Furthermore, seafood comes with selenium and other trace minerals that ameliorate the toxic effects of mercury.   Mercury exposure increases the body’s need for iodine, as well as selenium, so the problem with mercury is primarily from dental fillings, not seafood, but they are usually not mentioned in government publications. 

Please do not make these mistakes! 

Using salt as a vehicle for iodine supplementation is not as effective as it could be.  Chloride in salt directly competes with iodine, so iodine is not absorbed well when taken together with chloride.  Historically in this country, iodizing salt created an increased prevalence of autoimmune thyroiditis.  It is best for people to use unprocessed, unrefined, unfortified, natural, unheated seasalt of mined salt, which contains trace amounts of iodine, even though these small amounts are not enough for iodine sufficiency. 

There is no substitute for education when it comes to iodine.  If medical providers and pharmacists and even herbalists and the general population are educated about the benefits of iodine, then people will find a way to get it.  Seaweed and seafood is an excellent way to increase iodine, if these foods are readily available and people know to use them.  Lugol’s solution is relatively inexpensive and could be made readily available as a treatment for iodine insufficiency.  Public and medical practitioner education on a diet preparing for pregnancy should include practical information on iodine as well as Vitamin A and the other fat-soluble vitamins that are so critical to healthy babies and an easy pregnancy and birth.  It has been said that the more iodine a mother has when she is pregnant, the more intelligent her baby will be. 

In this country, the education system is highly influenced by commercial interests.  This is how a flawed study such as Wolff-Chaikoff can come to be accepted as truth and permeate the medical system and change the way medicine is practiced, and the nutrition available to the public.  In the USA, commercial interests won out over caring for the people of this nation.   Powerful pharmaceutical companies interested in selling pharmaceutical drugs for iodine deficiency problems such as thyroid problems, depression, ADHD, and cancer have boosted the results of the flawed study.  Medical schools here are subsidized by huge pharmaceutical and chemical industries, and end up teaching what is “economically correct.”  The trade organizations for the medical profession such as the AMA distribute inaccurate information widely.  They have profited through taking away proper nutrition as a self-healing practice that every household could have used.   Hopefully, education on iodine sufficiency will not be so twisted in countries where commercialism is not worshiped as it is here.     

I have friends who use seaweed (they are careful it is taken from unpolluted seacoasts; don't get it from the US west coast or Japan) for iodine sufficiency, with great success.  One of my friends cured herself of thyroid cancer by increasing her iodine consumption, improving her diet, and, importantly, taking soy out of her diet, since soy can be a cause of thyroid cancer and other types of cancer.  One of my friends who had a diagnosis of possible breast cancer with breast thermography, was able to reverse the diagnosis by painting iodine over the area of the tumor, and improving her diet. 

Personally, I use Lugol’s solution.  Most adverse reactions to iodine are mild, and I feel they are due to its ability to flush toxins out of organs that accumulate iodine.  Because I have suffered from heavy metal poisoning and other toxins (Hg, Cd, Pb, Br, F, as well as the organochloride DDT, and organophosphate pesticides) I have had some reactions to iodine.  I find these can be ameliorated without giving up iodine consumption, by taking it through the skin, by putting a few drops in my bath, or by painting it on my skin.  This is especially effective if there are cysts or tumors near the surface of the body. 

Lugol’s iodine has multiple uses.  It is a good idea to use it for any scrapes or scratches or even puncture wounds to the surface of the skin, because it is absorbed through the skin and it promotes healing and is extremely antiseptic.  It can be used to make water that is contaminated by bacteria and viruses sterile, also.   It can treat/heal numerous maladies, including skin cancer and warts. 

Making Lugol’s solution available to the public, and educating the public about its importance and proper use, would be much better than simply adding inorganic iodine to salt.  I believe that proper health education is the best way to go, supported with the availability of highly nutritional supplements like Lugol’s Solution and high-vitamin cod liver oil being made widely available and inexpensive.  A population that has things like iodization of salt done “for” it will always be vulnerable to having something happen like what is happening in the United States, where our children are not anywhere as bright as they could be, and our population has an extremely high rate of reproductive cancers.  These are  problems that could be easily solved for the most part with proper education about nutrition. 

References

Iodine : Why You Need It, Why You Can't Live Without It, 2009, by David Brownstein.   ISBN 9780966088236

Best Kept Secret, posted on June 19, 2009 by John Dommisse, MD • http://www.westonaprice.org/modern-diseases/best-kept-secret/#sthash.8W4RK2i6.dpuf

The Great Iodine Debate, posted on June 22, 2009 by Sally Fallon Morell • http://www.westonaprice.org/modern-diseases/the-great-iodine-debate/#sthash.1Q3tETFm.dpuf

Fluoride: Worse than We Thought, posted on April 14, 2004 by Andreas Schuld http://www.westonaprice.org/health-topics/fluoride-worse-than-we-thought/#sthash.Ilni3kdZ.dpuf

The Salt of the Earth:  Why Salt is Essential to Health and Happiness, posted on July 4, 2011 by Sally Fallon Morell.  http://www.westonaprice.org/health-topics/abcs-of-nutrition/the-salt-of-the-earth/   

Thyroid and Homeopathic Iodine, posted on June 24, 2009 by Joette Calabrese • http://www.westonaprice.org/holistic-healthcare/thyroid-and-homeopathic-iodine/#sthash.PtLcOgS1.dpuf