A growing iodine deficiency could bring back America’s goiter

A growing iodine deficiency could bring back America's goiter

“A century ago, much of northern America was known as the goiter belt,” said The Economist.

A lack of natural iodine in the soil and water, and an iodine-poor diet, led to the “characteristic neck swellings”: enlarged thyroid glands. But after iodine supplements were shown to help prevent them, iodised salt was “rolled out” in 1924. By the 1940s, goiters had all but “vanished”.

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Publish date : 2024-11-10 09:56:00

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