Tuesday, April 19, 2011

Today's interesting fact has to do with iodine and the lack of it in the British Diet.

Countries that depend on the sea to produce a large portion of their diet usually don't seem to have problems with iodine deficiencies.

Britain historically was one of those countries.

Unfortunately eating habits have changed; people are eating less food sourced from the sea.

While fish have some iodine in them, the amount various tremendously, shell fish usually have more iodine in them but kelp or seaweed is the best source of iodine.

And until the early 1900's many foods produce in the UK had many foods that contained seaweed extracts.

More recently, the largest portion of iodine in the British diet came from milk, but fewer people drink milk in amounts required and are not meeting their dietary needs.

The World Health Organisation has recently put out a warning that many who live in Britain are deficient in Iodine and suffering from the effects.

This includes thyroid problems and weight gain.

When this was published, I went to every supermarket I could reach, including Tesco, Asda, Sainsburys and the only supermarket I've found so far that has iodized salt is Lidls.

No comments: