on a 1996
Indonesian postage stamp Worldwide,
iodine deficiency affects two billion people and is the leading preventable cause of
intellectual and developmental disabilities. 150
micrograms (0.15 mg) of iodine per day for adults. While iodine is crucial, the FDA also recommends limiting overall sodium intake to less than 2,300 mg per day for adults, which is approximately 1 teaspoon of table salt
Argentina Since 8 May 1967 salt for human or animal use must be iodised, according to the Law 17,259.
Australia Australian children were identified as being iodine deficient in a survey conducted between 2003 and 2004. As a result of this study the Australian Government mandated that all bread except "organic" bread must use iodised salt. There remains concern that this initiative is not sufficient for pregnant and lactating women.
Brazil Iodine Deficiency Disorders were detected as a major public health issue by Brazilian authorities in the 1950s when about 20% of the population had a
goitre. The National Agency for Sanitary Vigilance (ANVISA) is responsible for setting the mandatory iodine content of table salt. The Brazilian diet averages 12 g of table salt daily, more than twice the recommended value of 5 g daily. To avoid excess consumption of iodine, the iodizing of Brazilian table salt was reduced to 15–45 mg/kg in July 2013. Specialists criticised the move, saying that it would be better for the government to promote reduced salt intake, which would solve the iodine problem as well as reduce the incidence of high blood pressure.
Canada For table and household use, salt sold to consumers in Canada must be iodised with 0.01% potassium iodide. Sea salt and salt sold for other purposes, such as pickling, may be sold uniodised.
China Much of the Chinese population lives inland, far from sources of dietary iodine. In 1996,
the Chinese Ministry of Public Health estimated that iodine deficiency was responsible for 10 million cases of intellectual developmental disorders in China. Chinese governments have held a
legal monopoly on salt production since 119 BCE and began iodizing salt in the 1960s, but the
reform and opening up in the 1980s led to widespread smuggling of non-iodised salt from private producers. In the inland province of
Ningxia, only 20% of the salt consumed was sold by the
China National Salt Industry Corporation. The Chinese government responded by cracking down on smuggled salt, establishing a salt police with 25,000 officers to enforce the salt monopoly. Consumption of iodised salt reached 90% of the Chinese population by 2000.
India India and all of its states ban the sale of non-iodised salt for human consumption. However, implementation and enforcement of this policy are imperfect; a 2009 survey found that 9% of households used non-iodised salt and that another 20% used insufficiently iodised salt. Iodised salt was introduced to India in the late 1950s. Public awareness was increased by special programmes and initiatives, both governmental and non-governmental. Currently, iodine deficiency is only present in a few isolated regions which are still unreachable. In India, some people use Himalayan rock salt. Rock salt however is low in iodine and should be consumed only when other iodine-rich foods are in the diet.
Iran A national programme with iodised salt started in 1992. A national survey of 1990 revealed the prevalence of iodine deficiency to be 20–80% in different parts of Iran indicating a major public health problem. Central provinces, far from the sea, had the highest prevalence of iodine deficiency. The national salt enrichment programme was very successful. The prevalence of goiter in Iran dropped dramatically. The national survey in 1996 reported that 40% of boys and 50% of girls have goiter. The 3rd national survey in 2001 showed that the total goiter rate is 9.8%. In 2007, the 4th national survey was conducted 17 years after iodised salt consumption by Iranian households. In this study, the total goiter rate was 5.7%. Concerns of iodine deficiency have raised over recent years due to the consumption of non-iodised salts especially sea salt which is strongly suggested by traditional medicine workers in Iran, many of whom lack a pertinent academic background.
Kazakhstan Kazakhstan, a country in Central Eurasia in which local food supplies seldom contain sufficient iodine, has drastically reduced iodine deficiency through salt iodisation programmes. Campaigns by the government and non-profit organisations to educate the public about the benefits of iodised salt began in the mid-1990s, with iodisation of edible salt becoming legally mandatory in 2002.
Nepal The Salt Trading Corporation has been distributing Iodised Salt in Nepal since 1963. 98% of the Population uses Iodised Salt. Utilising non-Iodised salt for human consumption is prohibited. Salt costs about US$0.27 a kilo.
Philippines On December 20, 1995, Philippine President
Fidel V. Ramos signed Republic Act 8172: An Act for Salt Nationwide (ASIN). However, local production of non-iodised salt continues.
Romania According to the 568/2002 law signed by the Romanian parliament and republished in 2009, since 2002 iodised salt has been distributed mandatory in the whole country. It is used mandatory on the market for household consumption, in bakeries, and for pregnant women. Iodised salt is optional though for animal consumption and the food industry, although widely used. The salt iodisation process has to ensure a minimum of 30mg iodine/kg of salt.
South Africa The South African government instructed that all salt for sale would be iodised after December 12, 1995.
Switzerland Switzerland was the first country to introduce iodised salt, in the world's first food fortification programme. In the early 20th century,
goitre was endemic in most Swiss cantons. Iodine was recognised to have an effect on goitre, but it was not until Heinrich Hunziker, a
GP in
Adliswil, argued that the necessary dose of iodine was minute (with larger amounts causing overdose issues), and another doctor, Otto Bayard, conducted successful experiments based on this idea, that the theory of goitre as iodine deficiency came to be accepted. Learning of Hunziker's theory, Bayard conducted experiments with iodised salt containing only tiny amounts of iodine in villages badly affected by goitre. The success of these led, starting in 1922, to the adoption of iodised salt throughout the Swiss cantons. Today, iodised salt continues to be used in Switzerland, where historically endemic iodine deficiency has been eradicated.
Syria In the late 1980s, a Syrian endocrinologist named Samir Ouaess conducted research on hypothyroidism and noticed that 90 percent of Syrians suffer from hypothyroidism, 50 percent suffer from health problems as a result of Thyroid deficiency, and 10 percent of students suffer from a decline in their academic level due to that problem. Dr. Ouaess linked these results with the fact that natural drinking water sources in Syria do not contain enough minerals. He presented the result of that study to the Syrian Ministry of Health. After that, adding iodine to salt became almost mandatory till 2021, when the Syrian government cancelled the iodisation of salt as a result of economic problems related to economic sanctions.
United Kingdom Iodised salt is not readily available in the UK, where table salt forms a low proportion of salt consumed and there exists a conflict of interest with the salt-reduction campaign, which aims to reduce salt consumption further still. UK milk had historically provided an alternative avenue for iodine intake, for which it is indirectly fortified through cattle feed. Iodisation of cattle feed was originally started in the 1930s to improve cow health.
Iodophor disinfectants used in milking parlours also serve as a source of iodine for cows. Subsequent dairy promotion programmes increased the population's milk consumption, creating an "accidental public health triumph" by increasing the population's iodine consumption and nearly eliminating goitre. However, several factors threaten this triumph: 2005 limits on iodine content of animal feed, organic milk (which contains lower amounts of iodine because of restrictions on mineral additions
David Murray Cowie, a professor of
paediatrics at the
University of Michigan, led the United States to adopt the
Swiss practice of adding
sodium iodide or
potassium iodide to table and cooking salt. On May 1, 1924, iodised salt was sold commercially in
Michigan. By the fall of 1924,
Morton Salt Company began distributing iodised salt nationally. A 2017 study found that introducing iodised salt in 1924 raised the IQ of one-quarter of the population most deficient in iodine. These findings "can explain roughly one decade's worth of the upward trend in IQ in the United States (the
Flynn effect)". A 2018 paper found that the nationwide distribution of iodine-fortified salt increased incomes by 11%, labour force participation by 0.68 percentage points, and full-time work by 0.9 percentage points. According to the study, "These impacts were largely driven by changes in the economic outcomes of young women. In later adulthood, both men and women had higher family incomes due to iodisation." ==No-additive salts for canning and pickling==