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Time is of the essence if the developing world is to avoid the disasters that unhealthy habits and life-styles have afflicted on the industrialized countries. Diseases of affluence refer to [...]

Millions of people suffer and many die from lack of minute traces of nutrients. Methods of prevention are cheap and simple. Their universal application could yield health and economic benefits comparable to those achieved by smallpox eradication.

The paper describes a study, carried out over 16 years, of the use of iodized salt for the control of endemic goitre in a valley of the Himalayan foothills. From 1956, salt was fortified with either potassium iodide or potassium iodate to provide an estimated daily intake of 200 mug per head. There was a progressive and significant decline in goitre prevalence, together with a return of the pattern of iodine metabolism to within normal limits. It is concluded that endemic goitre can be successfully controlled by iodization of domestic salt.

This report incorporates the results of an investigation designed to test the effectiveness of potassium iodide and potassium iodate in the control of Himalayan endemic goitre when these compounds are added in small physiological doses to the domestic salt habitually consumed by the people in the endemic belt. In a prospective study lasting five years, a striking reduction in the prevalence of goitre was observed in areas receiving salt fortified with either potassium iodide or potassium iodate. During the same period, goitre prevalence remained unchanged in the control zone, which received plain, unfortified salt. The study has an important bearing on the problem of goitre control in developing countries that use moist, coarsely crystalline salt.

Endemic goitre continues to be prevalent in the entire northern submontane region of the Indian subcontinent. Although its etiology is complex, its prevention can be simply and effectively achieved by increasing the iodine intake of the population. The best way of ensuring a continual supply of iodine is by iodization of salt. Indian salt, however, is obtained mostly by solar evaporation of sea water or inland salt water, and is coarse and moist; it is consequently difficult to iodize uniformly. It is also likely that, under the conditions of storage and climate that prevail in India, the loss of iodine from salt iodized with iodide is considerable. The author recommends the iodization of all cooking salt used in the goitrous areas of India with 1 part of iodide to 100,000 parts of salt.