A brief history of iodized salt in the U.S.

 

Some things we take for granted, and some things we shouldn't. So if you're losing a lot of gourmet sea salt on your dishes, you might still want to consider shaking a bit of the standard iodized halite onto your meals occasionally.  (You can also get iodized sea salt, by the way.)

How the arrival of iodized salt 100 years ago changed America

"Not long after Michigan’s success at kick-starting salt iodization in the United States, iodine-fortified salt became a daily part of the American diet. This slight but crucial modification eventually saw goiters become rare to the point of near extinction, erasing the “goiter belt” forever.

Other major 20th-century U.S. public health campaigns, such as antismoking and occupational safety, remain relevant to the present day. The American goiter, though, either goes ignored or exists merely as a historical curiosity.

“The very success of the campaign, all but eliminating goiters, has made the issue fall out of public consciousness,” said Jim Tobin, a Michigan native and professor of journalism at Miami University of Ohio."

So get your iodine.