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Re: APD V4 #431 - Iodised salt
> Date: Tue, 25 Jul 2000 10:01:28 +1000
> From: "Neil Travis"
>
> Iodine is not added to table salt because people need it
> but purely to make it flow better...
Sorry, Neil, but this is incorrect. Salt is iodized for the benefit of those
people who do not get enough iodine in their regular diets - it is basically
a "goiter" preventative.
Quite some time ago it was realized that the most common factor in any
American diet was the salt. It appeared on the tables of all economic
classes regardless of taste or dietary differences. As with water
flouridation, iodizing salt became the simplest method of easing the number
of thyroid deficiency problems through "passive exposure".
> ...as normal cooking salt which has is not iodised tends
> to mix freely with water and as such would clog up the salt
> shaker etc. and goes hard with moisture from the air as
> salt is hydroscopic.
Iodized salt will still absorb moisture and "clump". Most of us that grew up
outside of metropolitan areas here in the US probably remember (or know
someone who does) their mothers placing rice grains in their shakers to
prevent the clumping. (Those of us with more than healthy levels of
curiosity can also remember the time they tried to _eat_ those rice grains -
ugh!)
These days we rely on additions such as calcium silicate and dextrose as
anti-clumping agents (although the rice still works much better)...
-Y-
David A. Youngker
nestor10 at mindspring_com