THIN PEOPLE VISITING INDIA SHOULD TAKE WITH THEM UNIODISED SALT.

(© Dr.V.M.Palaniappan)

Iodised salt, when consumed even in optimum* quantities, can give rise to HYPOTHYROIDISM in THIN-built people.

(* Optimum quantity would contribute excessive iodine, because of the enrichment. I will be discussing the details below.)

Let me prove it to you with adequate evidences: 

Please read this article in full, so that the phenomenon can be correctly understood.

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Please read these, if you need the basic information about the importance of iodine, otherwise, you can skip reading this:

To start with, all of us know very well that iodine is definitely required by the body for the well-being and functioning of our thyroid gland.

According to Stephanie L Lee (e.medicine medscape, Jan 27, 2012: http://emedicine.medscape.com/article/122714-overview).

Severe iodine deficiency disturbs the production of thyroid hormone.

• It can enlarge the thyroid gland (it is called Goitre).
• It can give rise to hypothyroidism (i.e., decrease the production of thyroxine)
• It can give rise to cretinism (i.e., stunted physical and mental growth, brought from the hypothyroid condition of the mother)
• It can decrease the fertility rate
• It can increase the death of infants
• It can bring about mental retardation

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You need to read this, if you need to know the sources of iodine. If not, you can skip to the next part of this article:

According to David Grotto’s Nutrition House Call (http://davidgrotto.wordpress.com/2011/03/16/natural-food-sources-of-iodine/, posted on March 16, 2011),  the following consumables (+ several others) contain iodine, in the order of importance:

Seaweed, Cod, Yoghurt, Milk, Fish sticks, Enriched white bread, Fruit cocktail, in heavy syrup, Shrimp, Ice cream, Macaroni, enriched, Egg, Tuna, Corn, canned, Prunes, Cheese, Raisins, Lima beans, Apple juice, Green peas, Banana, etc.

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With the above background information, let me explain the scientific truth:

The following observations are (statiscally) true, and I have reported these in my books (Palaniappan, 1998-2011):

Irrespective of their ethnic origin, gender, geographic location, etc., the following appear to be true:

All THIN and SKELETAL-looking people tend to take MORE salt. They like salty food.

All OBESE and OVERWEIGHT people seem to be taking MUCH LESS or LOW salt.

The reason for the above occurrences are:

The THIN and Skeletal people (with the exception of PSEUDO-SLIM people) definitely drink plenty of water (e.g., more than 2 L, may be 3-5 L / day), and urinate several times (e.g., more than 8 times, may be 10, or even 14 times a day).

As a result of these abundant water intake and liberal urination, most of the salt in their body gets out through urination - thus SALT GETS DEPLETED.

This creates a want (for salt) in their body. This gets translated as a CRAVING for salty food.

When it comes to the overweight and obese people, some people drink plenty of water, and some drink extremely little.

Nevertheless, BOTH groups of people DEFINITELY under-urinate: example: just 3 times daily - may be 4 times.

Such under-urination results in the expulsion of very little salt - thus MOST of the salt they had consumed stays inside their body - thus, the salt accumulates to become plentiful inside the body.

If and when their body retains plenty of salt, naturally, they develop a repulsive feeling for salt. 

In other words, they ‘hate’ salt, and therefore, they always prefer to take much less salt.  (That is why, they claim even normal salt in food as too much).

THE IODINE THAT HAS GONE INTO THE BODY THROUGH FOOD AND DRINKS, IN BOTH TYPES OF PEOPLE DOES NOT GET LEACHED OUT, BUT STAYS INSIDE THE BODY*.

(* It is strongly believed that excess iodine tends to go out in the urine. However, most of the iodine that gets absorbed by the thyroid gland may not go out, especially because, it is not in a free state floating in the blood. 

When it comes to the obese people, they UNDER-URINATE, and therefore, the chances of iodine, or for that matter even the salt, going out in the urine is extremely small, as has already been told above. I said earlier, this is the reason why the obese people hate salt, and end up taking less salt.)

As a result of this, reduced  SALT intake by the obese, results in REDUCED iodine intake.

When iodine is NOT enough, these obese people develop throat swellings, followed by HYPOTHYROIDISM.

If they develop hypothyroidism, naturally ALL the deficiency SYMPTOMS described above, would occur.

To repeat:

In the obese people, reduced salt intake results in iodine deficiency, and that can give rise to: 

• goitre, 
• decreased thyroxin hormone production, 
• physical and mental retardation, 
• decrease the fertility, 
• cause infant death (if it happens to be infants), and also 
• mental retardation.

As opposed to this, since the THIN people consume plenty of the normal salt, ADEQUATE quantity of iodine (without going for selected iodine-rich diet) will enter into their body, and they will be healthy, without any of the above deficiency symptoms suffered by the obese.

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Based on the above reality, what do you think should be done?

Any government, interested in the health of the people, should do the following, if necessary, through imposition by LAW:

ALL obese people will NOT like to take more salt. Therefore, they will definitely suffer deficiency for iodine!

No one can force them to take more salt.

However, the Government or Health Ministries or Doctors can recommend to all obese people to take IODINE-ENRICHED salt.

That will mean, when the obese take little salt that contains MORE IODINE, they will NOT suffer the deficiency diseases.

At the same time, the health-care administrators should recommend the THIN people NOT to take IODINE-ENRICHED salt, but to take only the NORMAL, UNENRICHED SALT.

When the THIN people take more salt that contains normal iodine, this group of people too will NOT develop any iodine-deficiency diseases.

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The above being the truth, what will happen if the THIN people are also told (or forced, for want of choice) to take the IODINE-ENRICHED salt?

There is no way these thin people would reduce their total salt intake. They are bound to take more salt.

If they consume more of the iodine-enriched salt, for sure, the quantity of iodine that enters into their body is going to be TOO MUCH!

This will then mean, that the THIN people are going to suffer of IODINE TOXICITY!

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How does this toxicity due to iodine excess affect the THIN people?

It happens EXACTLY like any other AUTO-IMMUNE DISEASE, such as Insulin-dependent Diabetes Mellitus Type-1.

When far too much of sugar enters into the body - to a level that cannot be managed by the body - beyond the tolerance limit, then, the brain withdraws suddenly and drastically, the production of insulin altogether, resulting in  insulin-dependency from external sources (that is, type-I).

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When the THIN people end up with too much of iodine because of taking too much of iodine, unwittingly because of taking the iodine-enriched salt, their body, being unable to cope up with the excessive iodine, suddenly develops hypothyroidism, resulting in the total stoppage of THYROXIN hormone production, giving rise to Hypothyroidism.

The hypothyroidism that develops in the obese, because of iodine deficiency, SHOWS CERTAIN SYMPTOMS, which include swellings of face, legs, dullness, sleepiness, laziness, memory failure, etc.

Whereas, the Hypothyroidism that develops in the THIN because of the AUTO-IMMUNE DISEASE due to EXCESSIVE iodine may not show most of the above symptoms. 

Thus, it will occur as an ASYMPTOMATIC HYPOTHYROIDISM. 

This will be then categorized under, what is called, HASIHMOTO’S HYPOTHYROIDITIS.

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After having read the above, what should be done to protect the THIN as well as the OBESE?

The right approach should be, as said earlier:

The OBESE MUST BE ABLE TO BUY IODINE-ENRICHED SALT in the open market. 

The THIN people should be ABLE TO BUY UNENRICHED SALT in the open market.

Then, the Health Ministries, and the Doctors should advise the people to consume accordingly.

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In Malaysia, you can go to any shop selling domestic consumables, and you can freely CHOOSE to buy ANY kind of SALT!

Some people buy Iodine-enriched, and some others buy natural salt - that which is not artificially enriched.

Of course, they pick the salt, without any knowledge I have described above - which is COMPLETELY BASED ON MY OWN RESEARCH and EXPERIMENTAION!

(You can never find this information in any other language, by anybody else, in any other country, and at any time until this day.)

Most of the highly educated people tend to buy iodine-enriched salt, with the assumption that that is good for them - not knowing that, if they happen to be THIN, it is going to adversely affect them.

Anyway, the choice of buying is there, for both types of salt  are available in the market. 

The Malaysian government allows that, which is appreciable!
(I am not aware which are the countries that restrict the sale of natural salt, and which are the ones that force their people to take iodised salt, pressurising them by enforcing Law)

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The above being the truth, DO YOU KNOW WHAT HAD HAPPENED IN INDIA?

I understand that the Government of India has TOTALLY BANNED THE SALE OF NATURAL SALT IN THE WHOLE COUNTRY!

Every gram of salt that comes out of the SALT MANUFACTURERS MUST BE IODIZED! That seems to be the LAW in the country.

That means, uniodised salt, however much you try to purchase, will not be available at all!

This means, ALL the OBESE people will NOT suffer from any iodine-deficiency diseases, and they will not develop Hypothyroidism. That forms a good news.

Unfortunately, ALL THIN PEOPLE ARE ALMOST DEFINITELY GOING TO DEVELOP ASYMPTOMATIC HYPOTHYROIDITIS! That will be too bad!

 You don't need to have any doubt in what I am saying, for my findings are based on serious scientific research!

If someone cares, he/she could gather the recent statistics in any part of India, they will come up with exactly what I had said above:

Numerous THIN people must have become victims of hypothyroidism, for UNKNOWN (to them) reasons, after the introduction of this Law.

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I went to India to do a research study in certain aspects of Ecological Healing System. 

I did not want to take iodized salt.

I hunted in all places, in all possible outlets.

Since I could not find any uniodised natural salt, I approached Chemists and Pharmacists to buy for me some natural salt.

One of my patients, a Big Chemical Dealer in Coimbatore city, after scavenging, told me that he tried his best to get natural salt for me, and failed in all his attempts.

One day, one seller,  sitting on his bull-driven cart that was filled with unrefined, coarse salt, passed along the place where I was staying.

On enquiry, I found out that he was bringing the salt from the Salt Mine, and that was truly original!

I was excited, and I bought 20 kgs. of the salt for my use until my return trip to Malaysia, and stored it in a nice plastic container.

Do you know what happened to that salt?

I gave it for testing, since it tasted iodised.

I was shocked to find that that salt too was iodised.

On enquiry, I found out that the Government was very strict, and they made sure that every gram of salt that goes out of the salt field is definitely iodised!

In the end, until I returned to Malaysia, I had no choice except to (a) using much less salt for cooking, and (b) just condition my mind not to worry about it.

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Dear Friends,

Last month I was invited to India - to Coimbatore city, sponsored by Wavetell Mobile Mall, to give a basic training course to a group of 220 people for the prevention of type-2 diabetes. I returned to Malaysia on the 14^th day.

Yet, I took 500 grams of uniodised salt packet from Malaysia, for my personal use.

When I returned, my friend was very happy when I gave him the unused balance.

He told me that he has been hunting for uniodised natural salt in several cities in the South, he said, he couldn’t find it at all!

Arising out of my previous one-day seminar, recently, some 40 people have gathered together, and have requested me to go there again, and give them one-month complementary therapy for a possible cure of type-2 diabetes.

I have accepted their invitation, and I will be going over there soon.

One of the things that has been disturbing my mind is, should I take uniodised salt with me this time too? If so, how much should I take?  Will the Customs prevent me from taking even one kg of the salt - after all it is going to be for my personal use!

Well, if any one of you happen to be an official who can advise me on this, I would greatly appreciate it.

In the meantime, I would urge ALL foreigners wanting to spend more time in India, please give some thought to this serious problem.

(If you are going to consume food in restaurants, you have no choice except to consuming only iodised salt!)

Anyway, (a) if your stay in India is going to be short, you don’t have to worry about taking iodised salt with you, and (b) if you are an obese person, you can be happy about it, for you will not be in trouble.

If are a THIN person, and if you are going to stay in India for a longer period, I would suggest, you better take a large quantity of uniodised salt with you.

Before doing so, I think, it would be only proper that you write to the Government of India, and get a written permission to ‘import’ natural salt into India, lest you may end up with legal problems.

END-NOTE: I AM A THIN PERSON!

OK, friends,

Before going to India, I will try to post another good and useful article in our Blog.

Do you know why I did not post any article for the past two weeks?

Well, I will let you that ‘interesting’ reason in the next posting.

With best wishes,

Dr.Palani.