I usually buy the salt that says “this salt supplies iodide a necessary ingredient.” But yesterday I accidentally bought one that says “this salt does not supply iodide..” which always makes me wonder… if iodide is a necessary nutrient why would salt be sold without it.. and explicitly state that ???
Anyways, I’m basically wondering if it’s bad enough that I should go out and buy the salt that supplies iodide. I know it’s not a life or death ordeal but I’m just now beginning my ✨caring about what I put in my body✨ journey so if this salt will only give me all the bad components of salt without any good ones, I’ll go get another one.
<3
In: Other
Iodine can come from many foods, if the soil it’s grown in has enough iodine. It can also come from drinking water. So, it’s not necessary to only get it from salt.
Some places have low iodine in their soils (In the US it tends to be in the northern states like the upper Midwest, Rocky Mountains and parts of the north east. In these areas iodized salt is providing a supplement that might be needed (food is global now so carrots grown in iodine rich soils can be trucked everywhere).
In places where diet provides plenty of iodine, some people prefer the flavor of non-iodized salt. Iodine adds a slightly metallic flavor that some dislike.
When I first started playing around with baking bread, everything I read said to use non-iodozed salt, as the iodine can effect the taste. I’ve never done a side by side comparison to see how true that is, but the container I put 10 pounds of salt in remains.
> if this salt will only give me all the bad components of salt without any good ones, I’ll go get another one.
Salt is a necessary mineral as well, so it’s not a “bad component”. Like almost everything else, it’s only bad if you have too much, but you need it to survive.
In Japan, they eat lots of seafood with seaweed so there already getting their iodine. So they just decided to not bother with it.
My mother had to go on a low/no iodine diet for some kind of radiation treatment/diagnostic for thyroid cancer. She wasn’t allowed processed foods and had to use non-iodozed kosher salt for two weeks.
One thing that hasn’t been mentioned is Jewish kosher rules. I’m not really sure on the reason, but kosher salt doesn’t have added iodine. I wonder if it has natural iodine would it still be kosher?
Just to give you one example, people undergoing treatment for thyroid cancer sometimes undergo radioactive iodine treatment. But before they can do this, they must starve the body of iodine for a period of time so that when they do eventually take in the radioactive iodine, it goes straight to any remaining (possibly cancerous) thyroid cells and kills them. This means no iodized salt.
Like others have said, iodine was added to salt as a way for people to get this important nutrient. It does not naturally show up in salt like that.
If nothing else, iodized salt isn’t kosher.
So for anyone who eats kosher, they have to buy non-iodized salt.
Also, at this stage, you’re almost certainly getting enough iodine in your diet, so it’s largely unnecessary. It also doesn’t really *hurt* and salt is dirt cheap (as is the iodizing process), so they just keep doing it.
Highly recommend the book “Salt” by Mark Kurlansky. Fascinating read, in it they tell the story of how Iodine in salt came to be. I would compare it to fluoride in toothpaste…not necessary and possibly bad for you.
You can’t make good aged home cheeses with iodized salt. Iodine is also anti-bacterial and you want bacteria to grow and make your cheese tasty.
Latest Answers