Salt and Health

From March 15 onwards, Jiangsu will reduce the iodine content of salt, and the average level of iodine will be reduced from the actual 30 mg/kg to 25 mg/kg, allowing fluctuations in the iodine content to range from 18 to 33 mg/kg. The province's Fengxian and Peixian counties in Xuzhou and Tongshan, Suining and Shuozhou are high-iodine regions. The continued implementation of non-iodized salt, other areas including Nanjing are all areas of mild iodine deficiency, residents need long-term daily Iodine from the diet. All will implement new standards.

So what is the relationship between salt iodine and our health?

Too much iodine intake can also have a negative effect on health, and even cause hyperthyroidism and other thyroid diseases. Like protein, fat, sugar, and vitamins people eat every day, iodine exists in the human body as a nutrient. In the process of synthesis of thyroid hormones, iodine must be present, otherwise thyroid hormone cannot be synthesized. There is an interesting medical experiment: After the thyroid is removed, it cannot become a frog. Therefore, it can be said that although the content of iodine in the human body is minimal, it is an important raw material for the synthesis of thyroid hormones and an essential element for maintaining vital activities.

Iodine in the human body is mainly derived from food. If the natural environment (soil, water) in which we live is low in iodine content, the iodine content of plants grown in this environment will be low, and animals that eat low iodine plants and water will lack iodine. If we use foods with low iodine content for a long time as food, iodine malnutrition will occur. This is something that everyone is not immune to, especially children and women.

If iodine is lacking, it will damage the normal development of children's brain, manifested as different levels of mental retardation, low learning ability, growth and development are affected, which is the greatest harm to iodine deficiency; cause pregnant women miscarriage, premature birth, stillbirth or fetal congenital malformations, Deafness; causes endemic goiter (commonly known as "big-neck disease"), severe iodine deficiency can cause cretinism (commonly known as "small stay", stay, small, deaf, dumb, deafness, etc.).

Due to thyroid disease caused by iodine excess <br> <br> much in recent years, often it has been reflected, after the implementation of universal salt iodization, thyroid disease on the patient's clinical increased. Experts believe that the increase in patients with thyroid disease is related to various factors: such as mental stress, accelerated rhythm, increased employment and living pressure, increased health awareness of residents, and increased rate of active patient visits; diagnosis and identification of thyroid diseases by clinicians Increased diagnostic capabilities; environmental pollution, possible effects of environmental hormones, and more. The proportion of thyroid diseases caused by iodine excess is not high. It is unscientific to attribute the increase in thyroid disease patients to salt and iodine.

How to determine iodine deficiency in the body?
Experts said that to determine whether the body is deficient in iodine can be determined by examining iodine in the urine or observing the presence or absence of goiter.
1, check urine iodine: iodine discharged from the urine every day can reflect the level of iodine in the body. Eat more iodine, urine iodine more; eat less iodine, urine iodine less. Therefore, urinary iodine is a sensitive indicator to determine whether iodine deficiency, if multiple urine iodine deficiency is found, it should be timely medical treatment.
2. Observe the thyroid gland: In children with iodine deficiency for 3 to 4 months, the thyroid gland will show a significant enlargement, which is embodied as a "big neck."

Children grow rapidly and require large amounts of iodine, so children are the most sensitive to iodine deficiency. In China, 8-10-year-old school-aged children are used as the main target group for monitoring iodine deficiency disorders. By regularly checking their urinary iodine index and goiter, we can determine the level of iodine nutrition in the population in this region.

Pregnant women need more iodine

It is reported that the easiest, most convenient and effective measure for preventing and controlling the harm of iodine deficiency is to add iodine to edible salt, and to add iodized salt is safe and effective. In accordance with the standard dose, eating iodized salt can ensure the body's daily physiological requirements for iodine, if the daily intake of 5 to 10 grams of salt per person, can get 125 to 250 micrograms of iodine per day, this dose can meet the elimination The need for iodine deficiency does not cause waste or cause other adverse reactions.

According to reports, the iodine supply of the fetus is entirely from the mother, so the iodine requirement of pregnant women is much higher than other women, not only to meet their own needs, but also to meet the needs of the fetus. Breast-feeding women are breast-feeding babies and young children, and the amount of iodine required is also high. The fetus and infants are in critical stages of rapid growth and brain development. These factors determine that pregnant women, breast-feeding women, infants and young children are special needs people who need to strengthen iodine nutrition. In addition to iodized salt, they should also increase the supply of iodine from other sources, such as increasing the consumption of seafood, such as laver, kelp and other iodine-containing foods, and taking iodized oil pills when necessary to meet the iodine nutritional needs of the special needs population.

Iodine exists in nature, and people mainly ingest water, food, vegetables, and the surrounding environment.