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Iodine: Seaweeds
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Iodine in combination with the amino acid tyrosine is manufactured into the thyroid hormone thyroxin. Iodine intake is grossly insufficient, and since Americans have begun restricting their salt intake at the advice of their physicians, deficiency has become epidemic. The average person takes in 170-250 mcg/day of Iodine. Japanese ingest about 100 times more because of their consumption of seaweed. Japanese subjects were fed Chinese cabbage, turnips, buckwheat, and noodles with 2.0 mcg of Iodine, soybean or seaweed - goiter developed in all groups except the seaweed group.
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Iodine is a listed ingredient in a range of multivitamin supplements available at health food stores, and the dose can vary from 50–150 micrograms per tablet. Kelp tablets are a type of seaweed extract, and can provide an alternative iodine source.
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Iodine is typically undesirably low (about 50 micrograms/day compared to a recommended level of about 150 micrograms per day) in UK vegan diets unless supplements, iodine rich seaweeds or foods containing such seaweeds (e.g. Vecon) are consumed. The low iodine levels in many plant foods reflect the low iodine levels in the UK soil, due in part to the recent ice age. About half the iodine consumption of omnivores in the UK comes from dairy products. In the US iodised salt is widely used and some other foods are fortified with iodine. In Canada all table salt is iodised.
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Iodine is only found inconsistently in plant foods, depending on the iodine content of the soil. Food grown near the ocean tends to be higher in iodine. Iodine is consistently found in only a few foods such as dairy products (iodine solutions are used to clean the cows' teats and dairy equipment and end up in the milk) and seafood (including seaweed).
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Iodine was discovered by the French chemist Barnard Courtois in 1811. Courtois was extracting sodium and potassium compounds from seaweed ash. Once these compounds were removed, he added sulfuric acid (H2SO4) to further process the ash. He accidentally added too much acid and a violet colored cloud erupted from the mass. The gas condensed on metal objects in the room, creating solid iodine. Today, iodine is chiefly obtained from deposits of sodium iodate (NaIO3) and sodium periodate (NaIO4) in Chile and Bolivia.
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Iodine was discovered by French chemist Bernard Courtois (1777-1838) in 1811. Courtois was barely making a living in his family's business of manufacturing saltpeter, which was used to make gunpowder. Saltpeter was made from the ashes of seaweed, which were treated with acid to remove sulfur compounds. One day, Courtois accidentally added too much acid, producing clouds of vapor having an attractive violet color. When the vapor condensed on cold objects, it formed dark, shiny crystals.
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