Iodised salt

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Iodized salt (also spelled iodised salt) is table salt mixed with a minuscule amount of various iodine salts. The ingestion of iodine prevents iodine deficiency. Worldwide, iodine deficiency affects about two billion people and is the leading preventable cause of intellectual and developmental disabilities. Deficiency also causes thyroid gland problems, including endemic goitre. In many countries, iodine deficiency is a major public health problem that can be cheaply addressed by purposely adding small amounts of iodine to the sodium chloride salt. Iodine is a micronutrient and dietary mineral that is naturally present in the food supply in some regions (especially near sea coasts) but is generally quite rare in the Earth's crust. Where natural levels of iodine in the soil are low and vegetables do not take up the iodine, iodine added to salt provides the small but essential amount of iodine needed by humans. An opened package of table salt with iodide may rapidly lose its iodine content...

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