Six common beliefs addressed, Part 255 - Iodized Salt Edition

1. My thyroid is normal but I am borderline on my iodine. My endocrinologist did not recommend iodine supplementation and instead told me to simply consume iodized salt but all of them contain dextrose. That's why I haven't used iodized salt in years. What can I do?

Iodine is a mineral found in some foods. The body needs iodine to make thyroid hormones. You can be low on iodine but still have enough to make thyroid hormone causing for thyroid markers to appear normal. But you don't want that to lull you to sleep and ignore your borderline result. If your iodine gets too low it can cause thyroid problems, including goiters.

Iodine is usually not recommended as a supplement you administer yourself because it is known to cause serious issues, particularly if you have undiagnosed thyroid disease. More than 1,100 micrograms of iodine a day for adults can be problematic. It could cause thyroid problems amongst other things. For this reason, long-term use of iodine or supplementation at higher doses requires proper medical supervision. That way the right testing can be done routinely to ensure your iodine is at the right levels. This is most likely why your endocrinologist did not recommend supplementation. They most likely deemed this was not a significant deficiency that required medical intervention but could resolve itself with the simple intake of iodized salt.

Goiters have become a thing of the past since iodized salt came on the market. I have personally never seen anyone with a goiter and I am 51 years old. My mother, who grew up in Cuba remembered seeing quite a few goiters in her lifetime but never again once she came to this country. So iodized salt seems to be effective in preventing this issue, regardless of the quality of the iodine used.

There is only one problem. Dextrose. The dreaded simple sugar derived from corn that makes low carbers drop in a dead faint or run to the hills when mentioned. The low carb drama is really real.

There is no doubt that a lot of conventional/processed "table salt" is terrible. It is filled with chemicals, preservatives and sugars depending on what brand you choose. In fact, a lot of these salts have so many added ingredients that salt is last on the list. But that's not what we are going to discuss here. After all, there are many alternatives to conventional salt, at reasonable prices and available everywhere. You can use Kosher salt, sea salt, Himalayan pink salt, Celtic salt or salt picked by elves from the Dead Sea. It's your choice.

In this post, we are simply going to discuss dextrose in iodized salt. No, it's not in there to make salt "taste better" and sabotage your diabetes management. The makers of these iodized salts do not have stock in dialysis machines. Dextrose is actually added as a stabilizer to prevent potassium iodide, the ionic state of iodine, from oxidizing and evaporating. Iodide is volatile and oxidizes rapidly with light and humidity. If the iodide gets oxidized to iodine, it could give an unpleasant taste to the salt and loose its effectiveness. After all, if you bought the salt thinking that it was supplying you with iodine but all the iodine is gone or no longer bioavailable, you are going to be royally pissed as you sit at your doctor's office with your brand new shiny goiter.

Let's be reasonable here. The dextrose in salt is quite trivial. For example, Morton Iodized Table Salt contains 0.04 percent dextrose or 40 milligrams per 100 grams of salt. This means that no, Morton salt did not cause your diabetes. You had to add doughnuts to that salt to make a difference. This means you can safely add iodized salt to your diet, if you require it, without losing a leg or needing a kidney transplant. This is particularly true when you are on a very low carbohydrate diet, free of dextrose and any other sugar in other food items. You can always mix the iodized salt with pink salt, sea salt and/or Low Salt. You can also just use it for cooking and use other salts for everything else. Just make sure the only ingredients in your iodized salt are salt, potassium iodide and dextrose. Don't get a salt with ten different additives.

Now if you are dead set on never having dextrose touch your lips while alive, then you can always have organ meats. Organ meats are surprisingly high in iodine and this is why hunter/gatherers have no need for iodized salt. But if you don't want your Sunday dinner table to feature lamb brains and ox heart, then you need to find iodized salt without the dextrose. The latter will be very rare and quite pricey.

But where there's a need, there's a market. Supposedly some scientists in Spain have found a way to keep iodide from oxidizing, without the need of any stabilizing agent. Go figure. No one knows exactly how they accomplished this or why they even tried but that's their claim and they are sticking to it. You can find this secret technology salt on Amazon. I recommend you store it very well and hope that it truly is supplying you with iodine, especially for the price you paid for it.

So, when it comes to iodized salt, let thy goiter be thy guide, not some low carb clown.