Iodized Salt Iodine is a natural element required by the human body for proper physical and mental development. It is essential to the production of key hormones that affect many parts of the body, particularly muscles, the heart, liver, kidneys and the brain. Physical manifestations of IDD range from goiter, the most obvious sign of IDD, to severe mental retardation. Iodine deficiency in pregnant women may result in irreversible damage to the unborn fetus as well as spontaneous abortion, stillbirths, low birth weight and increased infant morbidity and mortality.
People are mentally slower and less vigorous.
Iodine is referred to as a micronutrient because one needs only a very small amount. Unfortunately, the human body requires a continuous supply, on average 200 micrograms per day. Iodine fortification, or enriching a common food with an iodine compound, is the most cost-effective method of ensuring that everyone receives a steady and continuous supply of iodine. In fact, fortification of common foods has eliminated IDD as well as a number of other micronutrient deficiencies in the developed world. Salt has become the most commonly accepted food for iodine fortification because it is one of the few commodities that is almost universally consumed by all sections of a community, and at approximately the same level throughout the year by all normal adults, irrespective of economic level.