Sea salt

[Jim Tosch]

I keep seeing sea salt in markets. I hope anybody using this, especially older women know that this means they are not getting iodine or potassium iodide and are at risk for thyroid problems. If you are supplementing with kelp or other substances you are at risk for too much iodide. My knowledge is limited in this area but I do know Boquete is full of thyroid problems and it can be horrible. If there is someone more knowledgeable on this subject, please chime in. I can't understand anyone using sea salt in Boquete or other mountainous areas low in iodide.

[Jim Tosch]

Thyroid.org-"iodine deficiency is the leading cause of hypothyroidism worldwide".

[Jim Tosch]

Louis, I just entered hypothyroidism and iodine and virtually every post, including the Mayo Clinic made the connection. They did that in most developed nations iodine is not the problem because iodine is included in salt. In this nations Hashimoto disease is the main problem and they don't know what causes it . Iodine is absolutely critical for the thyroid to produce hormones. Like everything else in science there will be different opinions but I tend to look first to the Mayo Clinic. Then I look to the Doctors who specialize in treating Thyroid problems.

[Louise Andrew]

I agree with almost all of the above!  Except that the sex hormone problems don't cause the thyroid and adrenal problems.  They are frequently related, by virtue of the autoimmune nature of many endocrine disorders, and/or by the levels of hormone binding proteins that may complex several hormones. 

Given the average age of the expat population, hormone deficiencies are no doubt VERY prevalent among us. 

After all, Mother Nature has no further use for us after a given age, so why would our hormones remain at youthful levels? 

[Jim Tosch]

Linda, please understand, what you do is totally different than what is achievable for the general population. You are in a whole different group. This effort is to help families in Panama probably just by enforcing a law, maybe by education to buy
Iodized salt. You can't change a culture overnight. Thanks for your input.

[Linda Baker]

As I said before, I use only nascent iodine.  Read the following:  Iodine a Natural Medicine - Nascent Iodine vs. Iodoral, Lugols Also includes a video at the end to show you how to make your own iodine.  Here is the one I use:  http://www.detoxadine.net/  

What is Detoxadine?

Detoxadine is a nascent iodine supplement developed by Global Healing Center, also known as GHC. This health company produces only premium quality products designed to support the health of the consumers and to improve their quality of life. Detoxadine is an effective and safe dietary supplement that contains in its formula nascent iodine. This type of iodine is taken from the vegan-friendly sources, from vegetable resources available in the deep sea in its organic form. Due to this reason, the ingredients of Detoxadine have the ability to enter quickly into the blood stream, from where the necessary iodine will be used effectively to support the health of the consumers.

Just remember to take selenium with the iodine.  http://www.stopthethyroidmadness.com/selenium/

[Jim Tosch]

I am about to give up on Ning on this issue. If the thyroid problem were to be addressed in the high country of Panama it would save the government millions maybe billions of dollars in medical care. Money that could be spent elsewhere. It could save the breakup of families all over Panama. Remember we are the source of vegetables for much of Panama. A little bit of political pressure would push the enforcement of a largely unenforced law in Panama that salt contains iodine. Athena could make this her
entry into the legislature. Families are being destroyed, money is being wasted, and all it takes is a little pressure on a few politicians. But nobody seems to believe this is important. Roger Bellido speak up please.

[Jim Tosch]

Someone asked me the symptoms of hypothyroidism- you can panic, burst into tears, be afraid to leave your house, have tremendous headaches and back pains, gain huge amounts of weight and it goes on and on. It used to be called goiter in the US and people had huge Apple sized growths on their necks before iodine was added to salt by law. Your thyroid affects hormones that impact your entire body and can cause brain damage in babies.

[Louise Andrew]

Jim, you are obviously on an altruistic mission here, fueled by personal and painful experience. 

Of all the "symptoms" you list of hypothyroidism, only one, weight gain, and possibly back pain from myopathy are parts of the disease itself.   Hypothyroidism is rarely caused by deficiency of iodine.  There are plenty of well referenced medical overviews online.

Goiter is different from hypothyroidism, though they can be associated. 

Being born without a thyroid results in cretinism from the lack of thyroid hormones. 

You are again invited to join the "All things Medical" group if you want to get the facts straight and possibly to gather a range of informed opinions on the topic. 

Or form a political advocacy group! 

[Jim Tosch]

I have learned some stuff about iodine, thyroid, and salt. Lack of iodine is the number one preventable cause of retardation in the world. The gates foundation is funding studies to get iodine in salt for more people. The average IQ in the US went up 3% every decade after iodine was added to salt. Iodine gets credit for about 3% of that. So today I went downtown to Any's Pharmacy. They have been here for at least fifteen years. I asked what percentage of people in Boquete have thyroid problems. The answer was confident "More than half". I repeated the question because I was shocked. Same answer, more than half. So I left and went to the car and I told my Panamanian wife what they had said and asked if it could possibly be true and my wife said absolutely.
So, even if it is not a scientific survey , a huge number of people have thyroid problems in Boquete. What causes thyroid problems, too little iodine or occassionally too much.It has been leached from the soil here like in other mountainous areas all over the world so it is not in your vegetables and maybe not in your eggs depending on what the chickens are fed. If you use sea salt you are getting minuscule amounts of iodine. Himalayan pink salt seems to have enough but that is unlikely to serve the general population.
Thyroid problems take about a year of treatment to stabilize and require medication all your life. Please tell your Panamanian friends and expats to make sure they are getting iodine. It is a preventable. truly horrible experience when you develop thyroid problems. Iodized salt is available in local markets but you have to read the label. Salt in processed food and in restaurants is not iodized.
Too much salt is bad for you, a little iodized salt everyday can save you a lot of pain and suffering .

[Jim Tosch]

Dottie, I read a lot about Lugol's and it didn't seem a likely candidate for general consumption but more for specific, careful use. I am trying to raise the alarm for the general population and suggest an uncomplicated, inexpensive preventative solution but I will look again at Lugol's. Almost every household uses salt everyday and for practically no expense, if they limit their salt intake, iodine offers a simple solution.