Make sure your stomach acid is good because minerals can't get absorbed without it. Hypochlorhydria is a real problem, and gets more real the older we get.
Iodine is critical to make parietal cells which make our stomach acid.
So, low iodine = low stomach acid = malabsorption of minerals = cramps.
FDA (yuk yuk) says we need 150mcg a day. Ha! Japanese get minimum 12.5mg a day, and they are less likely to get American 'diseases.' Compare 150mcg / 1250mg as dollars: $15 or $1250. If you owe rent of $1250, give landlord $15, will he be happy??
But let's look at average iodine intake through iodized salt. NIH says there are 47.5–50.7 mcg iodine/g salt. Let's round it to 50mcg. If we are supposed to get 150mcg a day, that would be 3g of iodized salt, or a little more than 1/2 tsp.
To get optimal iodine of 12.5mg from iodized salt, let's do the math.
12.5mg is 83x more than 150mcg (Convert 12.5mg to mcg, 12500; divide by 150).
83x 1/2 tsp = about 7/8 cups of salt (48 tsp = 1 cup; 96 (1/2)tsp in 1 cup)
Almost an entire cup of salt to get enough iodine to make stomach acid, prevent diabetes, keep brain sharp, protect from toxic halides bromine/fluoride/chlorine, protect against radiation, keep thyroid happy and weight optimal and prevent goiter, stop breast cancer. Clearly, if you depended on iodized salt for iodine, you'd be dead of heart failure before these other maladies got to you.
So the solution is to get enough iodine from other sources besides govt-approved iodized salt. Iodoral is an iodine supplement, 12.5mg per dose, that can provide sufficient iodine. Seaweed, especially kombu, is the best food source.
