Attention Smart Shoppers

[SoDesuKa]

I ran out of salt so I added it to my shopping list. The supermarket had all kinds of brand name salt, but I won't pay extra for brand name salt. However, the iodized house brand wasn't available, so I bought the non-iodized kind.

Tell me about iodized salt. How do they add iodine? Does it do anything important? If it's all that vital, why isn't all salt iodized?

I am not losing sleep over this, but youth wants to know. Aconsejeme, por favor.

[eyesroll]

1. Iodine is a "necessary nutrient" for thyroid function

...that apparently we weren't getting enough of in our diets, so they began adding it to salt.

(It doesn't affect the actual salt.)

BUT -- Most people consume more table salt through restaurants and in processed foods than they do from the salt shaker at home, anyway, so you're not missing much.

Iodine is found naturally in shellfish and seaweed.

[tridim]

2. Iodine is important

http://www.newton.dep.anl.gov/askasci/bio99/bio99535.htm

[LynneSin]

3. you'll be fine

Iodized salt was for back many generations to ensure families were getting enough iodine in their diet. Iodine is a substanced needed for to prevent Iodine Defincies which caused all sorts of problems including retardation and a host of other bad things.

But today, iodine is more ready in our diets so it's not as necessary to use iodized salt.

here's more details about the history of it: http://home.howstuffworks.com/question367.htm

[tsakshaug]

4. I like

to use Sea Salt..
only because I start singing "Junk food Junkie" when I am cooking

[Dogmudgeon]

5. Rest easy

Eating fish once a week gives you as much iodine as iodized salt -- probably more.

It's added directly to the salt as potassium iodide, IIRC.

Iodine is a vital mineral for your thyroid, but the need for it is less than 100 mcg per day. You can also buy kelp tablets, which are usually standardized at 115 mcg per tablet -- and very cheap.

Incidentally, I have a minor thyroid problem myself, and I find I can taste the iodine in iodized salt very well! I don't use it, and prefer the kelp tablets, unless I've had some fish in the previous week.

Iodine deficiency used to be common in rural areas, an long-term lack of iodine would turn into thyroiditis and a condition called Goiter -- the person's neck would bulge out as the thyroid grew to monstrous size. The eyes would often bug out, too. It wasn't too terrible a disease, but it's cured so easily that Morton and the other salt packagers started adding iodine to their salt on a recommendation by the FDA some years ago.

There are foods that are goitrogenic, too. Cabbage, peanuts, peaches -- and a lack of seafood -- helped make goiter fairly common in the Old South.

There's a ton of information about this on the World Wide Web.

--bkl

[cheezus]

6. Kosher Salt!

Alton Brown has converted me. It's just salt, but it tastes soooo much better than normal salt. Makes everything much more gourmet.

[Dogmudgeon]

7. So eat more Gefilte Fish already!

You want that you should get a goiter, Bubby?

--bkl

[tsakshaug]

8. Kosher and sea

are the best to use with making rubs for cooking, IMHO, because of the size and texture of the grains

[johnnie]

9. I posted this on another thread

Iodine is one of the worst things for your skin. Ask any dermatologist. As another post states, there is enough iodine in other salts that you don't need to add more at home.

[radwriter0555]

10. I don't buy iodized salt. it tastes metallic. Kosher salt is the best for

general cooking.