THE VALUE OF IODINE

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXX, Issue 5465, 23 August 1929, Page 3

THE VALUE OF IODINE

(By

A.J.G.S.)

The highest of the world’s authorities, supported by experiments in leading European, Continental- and British farming institutes, have with one accord proclaimed the value of iodine in conjunction with minerals as invaluable for all kinds of farm stock. /They claim that unless the thyroid gland ‘functions properly the whole system suffers. Thyroixn, which is the first and last necessity for the proper functioning, contains 64 per cent, of iodine, and if the supply falls below a certain quota, then disease manifests. That New Zealand is to a more or less degree short of iodine has been proved by the medical profession, and from the modern methods of cooking, of export, and the enormous demand that maximum production is asking from all stock, come a continual source of depletion without replacement. It is claimed by persons whose dictums cannot be refuted that insufficiency of iodine prevents proper as simulation, prevents the turning of minerals (phosphates, nitrogen, calcium) into living tissue, and prevents combustion of fats, culminating in the loss of power to resist disease. The danger of over-production is no bogey, and in this country disease and disability is becoming more pronounced. A logical reason is that the call of iodine _ requirements is daily in- . creasing, owing to the greater demand on the animal for production from every charnel, and the natural decrease owing to present-day conditions. Effecting dairy stock—the generative organs, which are the first source of milk production, fecundity, and milk secretion. .In pigs, extraction from maximum amount of bulk, such as milk swill, for the minimum food value, continual effort of the digestive organs, and wear on the intestines. •In poultry—egg production, requiring assimilation of calcium and other minerals. ‘ Then, to keep pace with to-day's requirements of production, it appears that however great the abundance of food, assimilation is the first psscn-. tial, the turning into living tissue the minerals ; otherwise food values . are lost. ..'Combustion of fats (all dependent on the proper functioning of the thyroid), and, finally, everything pertaining to the system must work normally and right. The power of disease resistance can only be at its maximum when the foregoing conditions prevail. The fundamental principle pertaining to all life is that no superabundance of one essential will make up for the deficiency of another. Hence the supply of iodine must on no account be lacking. Science, study, research, and exptriments have proved its importance. It has proved also that the safest way to give it inwardly is in the potassium iodide form with other minerals, scientifically prepared.