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Iodine - The Missing Ingredient |
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Iodine deficiency is estimated to have lowered the
intellectual capacity of almost all of the nations reviewed* by as much as 10 to 15 percentage
points.
Iodine deficiency in pregnancy is causing almost 18
million babies a year to be born mentally impaired.
Vitamin & Mineral Deficiency A Global
Progress Report
*The UN reviewed 80 developing nations, containing 80%
of the world's population.
Put another way, the entire world is about 10% more
stupid than it need be, due to iodine
deficiency. |
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What is Iodine ? |
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Iodine, the 53rd element in the periodic
table, is a key ingredient in thyroxine, a hormone produced in
the thyroid gland. When a pregnant woman's diet lacks iodine,
her fetus may suffer inadequate brain development because
thyroxine production is inhibited. Thyroxine promotes complex
brain development and thus directly affects an infant's
intelligence. Although iodine is a critical nutritional
supplement, very little of the substance—about 0.001 g (0.02
grain) each day—is required to prevent iodine deficiency
disorder.
Microsoft Encarta 2004
The 'agreed' healthy intake rate of iodine for a
human adult is 60-120mcg per day (rounded off to 100mcg as an
RDV). More is required during pregnancy and lactation, and a
healthy range could be from 100 to 1000mcg per
day. |
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Why
is it important ? |
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"Thyroid (Thyroid Gland) - The thyroid gland is
an organ with many veins, anchored around the front of the
throat near the voice box. It is essential to normal body
growth in infancy and childhood. It absorbs iodine from the
diet and releases thyroid hormones - iodine-containing
compounds that help govern the rate of the body's metabolism
(its total life processes), affecting body temperature, and
regulating protein, fat and carbohydrate catabolism in all
cells. They keep up growth hormone release, skeletal
maturation, and heart rate, force, and output. They promote
central nervous system growth, stimulate the making of many
enzymes, and are necessary for muscle tone and vigour. To a
high degree, metabolism is regulated by the hormone thyroxine,
which can be made by the thyroid if enough organic iodine is
available. An enlarged thyroid gland that is not cancer is
sometimes called goitre"
Iodine Requirement
The total range of influence of thyroid hormones
on ontogenic (individual organism) development (from
early embryonic
through postnatal stages) and adult physiology in all
vertebrates is truly staggering. Thyroid
hormones are known to be essential for: early embryonic cell
migration,
differentiation and maturation; both embryonic and
postnatal growth; development of the entire central nervous
system, including the eyes and brain; hair growth; adrenal
gland function;
skin and hair pigment production; development and function of
the gonads.
Crockford |
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What happens if you don't get enough of
it? |
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Failure to have adequate iodine leads
to insufficient production of the thyroid hormones, thyroxine
and triiodothyronine, which affect many different parts of the
body, particularly muscle, heart, liver, kidney, and the
developing brain. Inadequate hormone production adversely
affects these tissues, resulting in the disease states known
collectively as the iodine deficiency disorders, or
IDD. The consequences of iodine deficiency
include: |
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Mental
retardation |
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Other
defects in development of the nervous system
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Goitre
(enlarged thyroid) |
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Physical
sluggishness |
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Growth
retardation |
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Reproductive
failure |
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Increased
childhood mortality |
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Economic
stagnation |
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and:
loss of control of the muscles of the mouth resulting
in mouth contortion and drooling, defective teeth, tendency to
obesity and cretinism. |
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Who does Iodine Deficiency affect ? |
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About 1.5 billion people, or nearly
one-third of the Earth's population, live in areas of iodine deficiency. |
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Iodine deficiency
has been called the world's major cause of preventable mental
retardation. Its severity can vary from mild intellectual
blunting to frank cretinism, a condition that includes gross
mental retardation, deaf mutism, short stature, and various
other defects. In areas of severe iodine deficiency, the majority of
individuals risk some degree of mental impairment.
The damage to the developing brain results in
individuals poorly equipped to fight disease, learn, work
effectively, or reproduce
satisfactorily.
SALT
IODIZATION
FOR THE ELIMINATION OF IODINE DEFICIENCY
Iodine
deficiency disorders brought about by insufficient iodine
intake during pregnancy, as and infant, or as an adult are
lifelong. Minor or short-term deficiencies can be corrected by
iodine supplementation, but once physical damage to the brain
or thyroid gland has progressed too far, it cannot be put
right. |
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Why are some areas deficient in iodine
? |
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Iodine and its usual compounds are
very soluble in water. Floods, fluctuating lake and river
levels, melting snow, glaciation of large areas, or run-off
from rain storms can all leach iodine out of the
soil.
Soils from mountain ranges, such
as the Himalayas, Alps, and Andes, and from areas with
frequent flooding, are particularly likely to be iodine deficient. The problem is
aggravated by accelerated deforestation and soil erosion. This
deficiency in the soil cannot be
corrected. The food grown in iodine
deficient regions can never provide enough iodine to the population and livestock
living there. Many other areas of the world also harbour
severe iodine deficiency, such as large parts of central
Africa. Living on the sea coast does not guarantee iodine sufficiency, and significant
pockets of iodine deficiency have been reported from the
Azores, Bombay, Bangkok and Manila for
example.
SALT
IODIZATION
FOR THE ELIMINATION OF IODINE DEFICIENCY
Before the 20th century, significant
iodine intake was largely related to the consumption of
saltwater products (e.g. fish and seaweed). For example, one
study showed that saltwater fish have a mean iodine
concentration of 832 mcg/kg, whereas freshwater fish have a
mean iodine concentration of 30 mcg/kg. This contrast in
iodine content reflects the fact that the oceans are one of
the largest reservoirs of iodine.
Over time, the earth's weather
patterns have stripped the soils and geological strata of much
iodine. The majority of this iodine run-off has collected in
the oceans. Because of this, societies that have lived near
bodies of saltwater, and consequently had saltwater products
as mainstays in their diets, have typically had better iodine
nutrition status than populations living
inland.
Some iodine is fed back into the
soils and surface waters due to rainfall from weather systems
that gather their moisture from evaporating seawater. However,
this re-supply of iodine is not significant enough to produce
a variety of grains, vegetables, fruits, and grazing fauna
that are rich in bio-available iodine--even in coastal
areas.
Iodine & pregnancy
The vast majority of the world's available iodine is
now dissolved in the sea. The only major
transfer back to land (except by diet) is via methyl
iodide, a trace gas produced by oceanic plankton, often
far out in the oceanic 'deserts'. See: Healing Gaia - James
Lovelock
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Areas affected by iodine deficiency are therefore
fairly predictable: |
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One of the most spectacular
effects of iodine and thyroid hormones happens to
the axolotl, a salamander living in inland lakes
in the Valley of Mexico, a typically iodine
deficient area. It can breed in spite of being an
overgrown tadpole larva, but with thyroid extract
or iodine in the water, can mature as a
salamander. It was only 75 years after it was
known as a species that some live specimens
suddenly matured into something a lot less weird
in a Paris
museum. | |
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Adapted from Micronutrients Panda
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Looking at the bright
side.....
"Iodine has the advantage of long
term storage in the human body (similar to Vitamin A) so
that if supplementation is used, it only needs to be
given a few times a year".
Micronutrients Panda
Which contrasts totally with other
information, stating that there is no natural means of
preventing urinary excretion of mineral iodine, although
'excess' iodine is stored in the thyroid as
iodotyrosines, bound to proteins called thyroglobulins.
This suggests that a one-time abundance of
iodine in the local diet meant that to acquire a means
of keeping it had no survival value, or other
evolutionary advantage, at the time. Other mammals
haven't developed iodine retention mechanisms either,
but then they don't have advanced mental structures and powers to
maintain.
And nowadays we get a lot of our
iodine only by
'accident'
"While there are no cereals or grains that
naturally have high enough levels of iodine to
significantly increase dietary intake, some cereal or
grain products have become foundational sources of
iodine for certain people groups. The addition of iodate
as a stabilizer to baked goods (particularly bread), the
use of the food colouring erythrosine in cereals, and
the use of iodized salt in baked goods and cereals are
the primary ways that iodine can find its way into these
products. While the bio-availability of the iodine in
erythrosine is questionable, cereal products contribute
14% of British iodine intake (30
mcg/day).
The poultry industry is aware of the
importance of iodine for reproductive success, among
other benefits. In the poultry industry it is common to
use fish meal or seaweed in animal feed and to sterilize
drinking water with iodine. The consumption of eggs in
Denmark is responsible for 10% of the average daily
iodine intake. Individual eggs have been shown to have
as little as 13 mcg of iodine and as much as 170 mcg,
reflecting the amount of iodine in the animals'
diets.
Cattle raised for slaughter are treated with
EDDI and given iodine-fortified feed and salt
licks. Milk products are often 'contaminated' with
iodine used in the milking machine sterilisation
processes."
Iodine & pregnancy |
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Farmers don't get paid until their animals arrive
healthily at the market. Food manufacturers get paid as
soon as you buy the can or package of the stuff they
purvey. Work it out for yourself. |
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Sea salt doesn't help much |
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"A major portion of salt produced
in the world is from sea water. Sea water contains iodine in addition to salt. However,
when sea water evaporates, much of the iodine either remains in solution or
is lost by evaporation. Only a small portion of the
iodine is retained in the
salt. Fisher and
L'Abbe (1980) tested non-iodized sea salt and iodized
table salt and sea salt. The authors
found 52.9 - 84.6 micrograms iodine/gram of salt in
iodized salt and 1.2 - 1.4 micrograms iodine/gram in
non-iodized sea salt."
Iodine
in non-iodized sea salt |
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And nor does meat... |
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"Because iodine is not
concentrated in muscle tissue, meat is generally not the
primary source of dietary iodine for a population. One
study found 2 mcg/kg of iodine in meat products,
while another study found 260 mcg/kg. Once again, this
disparity is due to the iodine content of the animals'
diet."
Iodine & pregnancy
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Note: the iodine content of meat is
about 1000th as much as in non-iodised sea
salt (lower level) or, at most, a fifth of that,
found in a modern drugged
meat
animal. | |
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And
it's possible to get too much of a good
thing.... |
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"Seafood products are among the
richest sources of dietary iodine. In a British study,
(Lee SM, Lewis J, Buss DH. Iodine in British foods and
diets. British Journal of Nutrition (1994). 72: 435-446)
the iodine content in fish and shellfish (not
necessarily fresh) ranged from 110 mcg/kg to 3,280
mcg/kg. In the same study, various seaweed products
ranged from 4,300 mcg/kg to 2,660,000 mcg/kg. Consistent
daily intake of iodine in amounts upwards of 1,000 -
2,000 mcg/day is probably detrimental to the thyroid
gland's ability to process and
distribute iodine to the rest of the
body."
Iodine & pregnancy
Adults should consume about 150 mcg/day of iodine - but, if
you eat 10 times as much, expect
problems.
Some marine communities in Japan and Korea,
subsisting on diets ultra-high in seaweed and fish, have
been diagnosed with thyroid problems - hyperthyroidism -
due to excess intake of iodine. |
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And agricultural staple foods
haven't done much good... |
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Goitrogens - Some otherwise healthful foods
contain goitrogens - substances which can
interfere with iodine uptake or hormone release
from the thyroid gland. These foods are generally
only a concern if iodine intake is low - which the
case in many poorer inland areas of the
world.. |
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Brassicas - cabbage, Brussels
sprouts, broccoli and cauliflower, especially
if consumed raw. |
Rapeseed (Canola Oil) |
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Apricots |
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Cherries |
Almonds |
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Raw flaxseed |
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Certain
foods are staples in many inland continental areas
in Africa, South America, and Asia - precisely
where iodine deficiency is already
high: |
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Cassava |
Millet |
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Sweet potatoes |
Maize |
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Lima beans |
Soybeans |
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Sorghum |
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The villains in this case are flavinoids.
Some flavinoids are converted by the gut into the
goitrogen thiocyanate, a substance that interferes
with normal thyroid hormone function via
competitive exclusion (thiocyanate has a similar
three-dimensional molecular structure to
thyroxine).
Crockford
Cassava also contains
cyanide. Almost one-quarter of a billion people in
the tropics consume cassava on a daily basis.
Young roots may have one-third starch by weight
but very little protein or fat.
Food
preparation and illness
But other flavinoids, such as
quercetin, an antioxidant (phytochemical) found in
onions, helps eliminate free radicals in the body,
inhibits low-density lipoprotein oxidation,
protects and regenerates vitamin E, and helps to
circumvent the harmful effects of heavy metal
ions. In other words, it's bloody good for
you.
Burgers 'n Fries -
Onion. |
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The serious iodine deficiency problem
in Kenya, and East Africa generally, may, in fact,
be a modern one.
The high consumption of maize, cassava,
sorghum, and sweet potatoes by subsistence farmers
my be exacerbating the probable local shortage of
iodine in the environment.
Howver, it is possible, because of the
continuous volcanic and tectonic activity in the
Rift Valley, that some Rift Valley lakes (and
their fauna and flora) concentrate iodine, much as
they concentrate other minerals.
If some lakes can concentrate enough
mineral pigments in diatoms to turn flamingoes
pink, why shouldn't they also accumulate iodine?
As far as I know, nobody has studied
this.
However, it would still be
necessary, to counter the iodine problem, to eat,
directly, lake shore foods, fish and shellfish,
from mineral-rich lakes. Freshwater fish and
shellfish don't, regrettably, live very much in
mineral-rich lake
water. | | |
|
Humans
have no instinctive urge for iodine, just as they have
none for salt. We like salt, generally, but only as a
condiment. We don't hunt out salt licks, even though we
lose it copiously in sweat.
In the
Philippines, the major staple is unsalted, boiled rice,
or cassava, a tuber introduced from South America,
for those too poor to buy or grow their own
rice.
On the
coast, where the majority of Filipinos live, the vital
iodine is provided by fish, shellfish, and seaweed, but
those unfortunates, the original hunter-gatherers in the
islands, the Aeta and Mamanwa, who have been driven into
the mountains by incoming farmers and fishermen, have
virtually no iodine in their diet, and it shows. The
mountain Mamanwa of Mindanao are stunted, and visibly
mentally deficient.
The
few remaining coastal Mamanwa, the Dumagats, are quite
different. I have heard of a local Mamanwa datu,
or chief, who is seven feet tall. |
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Why aren't North Americans and Europeans
affected by iodine deficiency ?
Why aren't they all cretins
? |
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Well, some of them are, of course, especially in the
field of politics, but you no longer see the village idiot in
every hamlet, or many like the banjo boy in the film
'Resurrection' in the hillbilly mountains of
America.
But:
Hollowell et al. (2002) tested over 17
000 Americans for serum TSH, T and thyroid antibody levels.
Extrapolation of their survey results predicted that within
the US alone more than 8,000,000 people unknowingly have laboratory
evidence of hypothyroidism and that approximately 700,000 people unknowingly have
hyperthyroidism.
Crockford
The reason for these 'low' figures
is that salt iodisation has been mandatory in most of
these countries over the past 60 years, and WHO is campaigning
for its adoption worldwide.
In the US, iodised salt is widely used and some other
foods are fortified with iodine. In Canada all table salt is
iodised. The UK has no iodine fortification strategy for plant
foods or salt.
The
World Summit for Children held in New York in September 1990,
called for the virtual elimination of iodine deficiency disorders by the year 2000. (It
hasn't been achieved yet; the world's most powerful leaders
have cut the funds available for such programmes).
Coincidentally, some of the most egregious of those leaders
hail from inland continental areas notoriously deficient in
iodine. While it would be invidious to name them, I am sure
you can think of some who come from Texas or
Arkansas.
Salt is a perfect medium - The
cost of iodization is low: normally in the range 2-7 US cents
per kilogram, which is less than 5% of the retail price of
salt in most countries.
Since iodine is required in
very minute quantities of the order of 150 -200 micrograms per
person per day, the dosage of iodine
in salt is extremely small. Salt consumption could be anywhere
in the range 5 - 20 grams a day within a given region or
country.
The policy has been so successful that
the iodine deficiency problem has been all but solved in most
developed countries.
SALT
IODIZATION
FOR THE ELIMINATION OF IODINE DEFICIENCY
It is so little of a problem now that the
US
Department o Agriculture, compilers of the most detailed diet
analyses of all, don't even mention iodine as an
essential mineral.
See HELP!
But what do you do about those who are too poor or too
isolated to buy a luxury like iodised table salt, that may cost far more than local sea salt or
rock salt ?
Within
one year of iodized salt containing the required concentration
of iodine becoming widely available
and consumed in a community, there will be no further birth of
cretins or children with subnormal mental and physical
development attributable to iodine
deficiency. Goitres, in
primary school children and young adults, will have started to
shrink and even disappear altogether. Children will be more
active and perform better at school. Further enlargement of
the thyroid in adults will be prevented.
SALT
IODIZATION
FOR THE ELIMINATION OF IODINE DEFICIENCY
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How did iodine fit into early hominid
diets ? |
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Not very well, it would
seem: |
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Iodine in the 'Cradle of
Mankind' |
| Central
Africa, including the western parts of East Africa, is a
notorious area of iodine
deficiency. |
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Microsoft Encarta |
Kenya: Evidence from different
regions of the country suggests the presence of iodine
deficiency disorders (IDD) in the country, especially in
the highlands, east and west of the Rift valley. Based
on several small studies, the estimated goiter rate is
7%, although the prevalence rate in the endemic regions
is much higher. Goiter prevalence of 16% has been
reported in pregnant women and school-age
girls.
No recent large-scale studies of
IDD in Kenya have been done, but the estimated goiter
prevalence based on small surveys is 7%.
High goiter rates (15-72%) were
reported in the early 1960s, with the highest rates
in the highlands of the Rift Valley, as well as in
Nyanza and Western Provinces.
Estimates based on urinary
iodine excretion have indicated that 63% of the
population of Kenya is at risk.
OMNI Micronutrient Fact Sheets:
Kenya |
| Goitre, as shown in this Kenyan woman,
is caused by the thyroid gland actually working harder
during iodine deficiency, thus enlarging it.
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And
this in a country where salt iodisation has been mandatory for
35 years, since 1970. The reason for the problem is that many
of the population are subsistence farmers or herdsmen, and
even shop-bought iodised salt may be considered an expensive
luxury, compared with 'home-made' salt made by boiling salty
plants or sun-drying lake salt. It may also be due, in modern
times, to staple foods being reduced to large amounts of
goitrogenic plant foods like maize and
cassava. |
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The very area
where Early Hominids are said to have evolved larger and more
intelligent brains has an ongoing iodine
deficiency problem. |
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It might
have been difficult for them to advance mentally in an area
where the very soil is so iodine deficient that even today,
with a conscious policy of iodine supplementation, there is
still a goitre rate of 20% or more.
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Iodine & the Neanderthals |
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In 1998, Jerome Dobson
published his take on the controversial Neanderthals of Europe, the
direct predecessors of modern Homo sapiens sapiens. He
proposes that the peculiar anatomy of Neanderthals was due to a high
degree of cretinism brought about by iodine starvation, in inland
areas, leached of minerals by glacial run-off.
The Iodine Factor in Health & Evolution - Geographical
Review - January 1998 (Available as pdf on Internet)
His argument is
compelling. As a professional scientist, though not a
palaeanthropologist, he has combined the professional opinions of
PAs and medical experts (although there are not many experts on
cretinism nowadays, since the disease has been largely 'cured' by
iodine supplementation). |
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This map was taken
directly from Dobson's pdf article, and is therefore not too
readable. I have simplified it for clarity only. He also
showed other correspondences, in the distribution of
Venus figurines, that just
didn't show up on the map. |
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Dobson
is careful to note that maybe not all Neanderthals might have been
cretins - just many of the ones whose bodily remains have been
found, mainly in caves. He notes the unintentional bias inherent in
finding remains only in caves. Cretins, ultra-sensitive to cold,
would favour such shelters.
We
frankly don't know what the others looked like - the inference is
that they made the prevailing type of Mousterian stone tools found
everywhere in this period - but that was upset when Neanderthal
remains were found with new-style Chatelperronian tools at
St-Cesaire. It was upset again when Truly
Modern Human remains were found almost preceding those of
Neanderthals in Skhul and Qafzeh caves in
Palestine.
Which is
a question never satisfactorily answered in the usual European
prehistory accounts - Neanderthals are supposed to have occupied the
continent exclusively for nearly ¼ million years - what happened to
the 'archaic H. sapiens' who came before them? Why did the
Neanderthals suddenly become 'extinct' when modern Aurignacians
turned up? |
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Wild boar -
Spanish Cave Painting
Dobson tellingly contrasts the medical
diagnoses of surgeons with sculptured representations by early
humans about 25-30Kya. If their animal representations are so
accurate and well-observed, shouldn't their human
representations be also ? |
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If you
didn't know that this little lady was about 25,000 years old,
you might well think she was just a cartoon figure from any
seashore postcard, complete with bathing cap.
But there was some reason for making her
statuette, and Jerome Dobson thinks that obese cretinous women
were revered in Upper Palaeolithic times. Perhaps he's
right. |
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| The Venus of Willendorf |
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And
compares descriptions by:
|
Doctors |
of Cretins |
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PAs |
of
Neanderthals |
I
have removed his references - it's up to you to find out which is
which by reading his excellent paper.
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Dobson also illustrates direct comparisons between the long bones of modern humans, Neanderthals and
pathologically extreme cretins.
The
fact that a predecessor published a similar diagram 80 years ago and
suffered the name of Finkbeiner should not lessen the value of his insight. |
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HELP
!!!
Modern diets have
been so buggered about by iodised salt, iodate bread improvers,
iodised meat animals, and so on, that iodine is no longer a critical
item (or not, at least, considered so in
'developed' countries with much 'industrialised'
food).
So there are no
reliable iodine content tables around, showing what is in the
original foods. Even the
excellent nutrition charts produced by the
US Department of Agriculture don't even
mention the stuff.
The best I can offer
is:
IODINE CONTENT
OF SOME FOODS
|
FOOD |
IODINE CONTENT
(micrograms per 100 grams of
food) |
|
Salt (iodized)
Seafood
Vegetables
Meat
Eggs
Dairy
products
Bread and
cereals
Fruits |
3000
66
32
26
26
13
10
4 |
|
Healthy
Eating Club -
Australia | |
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If
anyone out there can point me to a reliable and accurate
iodine content in foods table, I would be very
grateful | |
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And
the best I can do (at present) on where iodine comes from is
this: |
|
Origin |
Iodine quantity
in tons |
|
|
Earth
interior |
600.000.000.000.000 |
|
|
Earth's crust counted
on |
2.300.000.000.000 |
On the
continents |
|
20 Km
thickness |
4.600.000.000.000 |
Under
the seas |
|
Earth's crust counted on 1
Km thickness |
115.000.000.000 |
|
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Seas and
oceans |
2.700.000.000 |
|
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Atmospheric
layer |
340.000 |
|
Collieries |
600.000 |
|
Recoverable iodine reserve
in the saltpetre layers |
600.000 |
|
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Iodine Sources
Iodine follows a cycle to the sphere surface which we
cannot better specify than by quoting some lines extracted the
L.M. Bernard (1939) work: "atmospheric iodine and telluric
iodine, fixed by the plants, are assimilated by the organized
beings. These beings final decomposition releases then the
metalloid. Pulled by streaming waters, it is rejected towards
the seas. The sea plants absorb it and concentrate it in their
cells. From sea plants, iodine goes into the fishes and
shellfishes organisms. By to their disappearance and to their
precipitation at the sea-bed, all and sundry form the
sedimentary grounds of which high content in iodine.....a(s)
highlighted by K Scharrer ".
Which is about
as good as you'll
get. | |
 Back to Coconut Studio Index Page
Richard Parker - Siargao Island -
November 2005 (Last updated Monday, May 08, 2006)
I welcome comments or corrections on my
site and opinions, so please feel free to email me at:
richardparker01@yahoo.com
|
