Iodine salt and we Indians.

How much iodine is obtained from iodized salt?

Iodine was added to salt to prevent the spread of malnutrition and goiter in India. Since independence, from time to time, surveys were conducted by governments and foreign companies or agencies regarding malnutrition in India and on the basis of these survey reports, the government Took decisions in public interest.

Those who have manipulated data to benefit some particular foreign company or have misled governments and health organizations by tampering with scientific facts.
In independent India, when only a few people and communities were educated, there were very few people who understood foreign and medical sciences. And those who were educated remained busy in government jobs and work continued in the same way as it was happening since the British era.

Governments were made to understand through survey reports etc. that malnutrition is at its peak in the country. Everyone is deficient in iodine, hence iodine will have to be given to the public by adding it to essential substances like salt.

The governments of that time also accepted that adding iodine to salt was necessary in the interest of the country. No one suggested any other effective method to the government like iron tablets or folic acid tablets like today. And till today iodine salt is an important part of our life.
However, if seen on a basic need like salt, it can be considered a part of Gandhiji’s conspiracy to revive the salt tax which had been removed after the Dandi March. Adding iodine to salt is not like adding salt to flour.

Many complex chemicals and techniques have to be used to add iodine to salt. Due to which the production of salt again came into the hands of corporates.

In independent India, many PILs have been filed against iodine in the High Court and Supreme Court of different states. But Solid Survey and Modern Company Survey have always been serious about business. In February 2017, a PIL was filed in the Karnataka High Court regarding the harm caused by adding iodine to iodized salt and the anti-caking agent used in making it. In 2011, a petition was filed in the Supreme Court against iodine salt.

In 1998 also, a petition against iodized salt was filed in the High Court of Madhya Pradesh. But all were rejected with minor changes.
The requirement of Iodine is said to be essential for the human body, but you would not have heard any mention of any tablet or syrup to immediately overcome the deficiency of Iodine. According to science, salt containing iodine should be added during or along with food preparation. Should not be used. Because iodine gets vaporized due to high temperature. But there is no such information on the packing of salt.

Unlike Europe, in Indian salty food, salt is used only while cooking. And the taste of salt is perfected during cooking itself due to which the maximum amount of iodine evaporates. Salt has been used in India since ancient times.

It can also be said that salt was being used in Indian culture when European countries had not even heard of salt. In Indian culture, salt is added only during cooking. In many Indian beliefs, pouring salt on food is considered wrong and an insult to the food. In such a situation, iodized salt seems unnecessary.

Whereas now limiting the use of salt is becoming one of the primary advice of doctors. Compared to ordinary salt, iodized salt contains more chemicals which are dangerous and increase blood pressure.

There have been discoveries, innovations and changes in science. It is an irony that the so-called intellectuals of our society still keep searching for answers to their questions in the outdated science of the West. Especially for medical science and nutritional science, our dependence remains on the knowledge of Western countries.