Iodine Deficiency Blamed For Low IQ Among Thai Children

[lungmi]

My experience in the mountains at the burmese border where I work in a Buddhist Wat as jungle doctor.

Water in the mountains doesn`t have enough iodine, in Germany in the Black forest (my home place before) we had the same problem, but we had Heidegger.

To connect the deficiency of iodine to a low IQ is not a 100% scientifically statement. MSG, palm oil, sugar, junk food are more important factors.

[TAWP]

This is some form of sick joke, surely?

http://en.wikipedia....Y_-_WHO2002.svg

So, I call poppycock on this excuse.

Iodine deficiency is also responsible for Goitres, which used to be quite common in Thailand. From memory ,the govt. made adding Iodine mandatory to salt many years ago, but a lot of Thais do not use salt so much as fish sauce, it therefore makes sense to add it to fish sauce ,as well as other salty Foods

That re-affirms by statement that iodine deficiency isn't the critical point to a perceived low IQ test result for Thai children.

(In clear text: If Goitres was cleared up Iodine deficiency shouldn't be an issue as...Goitres was cleared up. If iodize deficiency wasn't even the cause - something else being changed altered the stats for Goitres - then this also re-affirms that iodine deficiency isn't a reality of the magnitude to largely affect the IQ test score.)

Edited August 27, 2010 by TAWP

[Thai at Heart]

Most poorer Thais use the locally produced sea salt. You can pick it up in most town markets. It has no iodine. It is very cheap compared to the iodized salt sold in grocery stores. It's not that the iodized salt is really expensive, but every baht counts when you aren't earning much.

Not to argue, but it largely isn't sea salt. It is dried on the flats in Korat or Uttradit.

It isn't as though the government doesn't know where it comes from. Add an extra 0.000001 baht a kilo with some iodine and job done. Better still, and add it into the fish sauce or MSG, or everything in 7-11 fast food and job solved. Better still, get Thainampthip to put it in Coke, if they care for the country. It would only equate to the smallest drop per litre.

What does 150 micrograms per day equate to? I presume way below 1/2 a grain of salt per day? If it is that big a problem compel every school in the country to use iodised salt in their cooking. I presume that milk formula has it already added, if not, piss of the Nestle franchisees in Thailand and add it.

Edited August 27, 2010 by Thai at Heart

[thatguy]

I haven't read all the posts, but Iodine can be a problem farther from the sea as you go. Mongolia for instance has a problem. However most all salt in stores is iodized, and fish sauce is made from ocean fish. Most thai, even in the interior should be well supplied.

[steady]

Evidently only about 2% of Thais are affected by iodine deficiency. Fish sauce doesn't provide enough iodine. Check out this article.

http://www.idpas.org...eficiencies.pdf

Here are a couple of excerpts.

Two iodine and seven iron compounds were tested for use in the fortification of pure fish sauce, mixed fish sauce,and salt brine for cooking as a means to combat iodine and iron deficiencies.

Micronutrient deficiency is a public health problem in most developing countries [1, 2]. In Thailand, irondeficiency anemia affects such vulnerable groups as pregnant women and children, with prevalences as high

as 70% in some rural areas [3]. Moreover, although the overall revalence of iodine-deficiency disorders is low in Thailand (2.1%), food-based strategies are needed to maintain this level, as well as to reduce the revalence of iodine-deficiency disorders in areas where it remains high.

So are we saying that if this 2% are government, elite and civil servants it explains everything!!!!

[canuckamuck]

I can't see how improving the iodine for the 2% who need it will make any real difference in overall IQ's.

But yeah if this 2% are the officials then perhaps they might get smart and start fixing the education from the ground up.

[jackr]

Why are so many people are mainly focused on IQ, as if other Q's don't matter What's the use of a high IQ, when for instance EQ (or perhaps SQ) is low?

How complete is this conclusion that iodine is needed for a higher IQ? It seems a bit too simplified. There's much more to IQ than just iodine I suppose.

Are you feeling alright?

[basjke]

Don't you think vitamine deficiency in the food is a much bigger problem here in Thailand then the iodine.

[hyls]

Why are so many people are mainly focused on IQ, as if other Q's don't matter What's the use of a high IQ, when for instance EQ (or perhaps SQ) is low?

How complete is this conclusion that iodine is needed for a higher IQ? It seems a bit too simplified. There's much more to IQ than just iodine I suppose.

Are you feeling alright?

Yeah I am. Haven't you heard of the theory of multiple intelligences from Howard Gardner for instance?

But perhaps this is not the right topic to discuss other theories on intelligence, so sorry for my going astray from the topic.

[Englander]

Most poorer Thais use the locally produced sea salt. You can pick it up in most town markets. It has no iodine. It is very cheap compared to the iodized salt sold in grocery stores. It's not that the iodized salt is really expensive, but every baht counts when you aren't earning much.

Many Thai can afford to shop in a Tesco or a Big C market. There they buy fish sauce or other salty liquids that they use for cooking.

Iodized salt is 10 baht from Tesco im presuming they sell it elsewhere.

Or if youre a women you can buy it in a nice jar for 40bht from Tops.

[canuckamuck]

Iodized salt is 10 baht from Tesco im presuming they sell it elsewhere.

Or if youre a women you can buy it in a nice jar for 40bht from Tops.

How much is it for men? or can't they buy it there?

[Thaddeus]

That re-affirms by statement that iodine deficiency isn't the critical point to a perceived low IQ test result for Thai children.

Quite.

Shall we dumb it down for some mate.

http://faculty.washington.edu/chudler/nutr.html

[Rumpole]

Post deleted

Edited August 30, 2010 by Rumpole

[Rumpole]

Please re-read the first line in my post.

The iodine is viewed as the cure to a low IQ among Thai children. IQ is determined by asking the children a number of questions that they either know the answer to or do not.

And if they get the questions wrong, just keep asking them the same ones till they eventually get it right. Problem solved.

Edited August 30, 2010 by Rumpole

[Beetlejuice]

So these days they are using iodine deficiency as an excuse for all those dumb kids out there. In my day the favourite explanation was too much lead in the petrol.

How about, below pare education standards, lack of resources, funding and career training for these youngsters that are mean`t to be our future investment?

[mommysboy]

So these days they are using iodine deficiency as an excuse for all those dumb kids out there. In my day the favourite explanation was too much lead in the petrol.

How about, below pare education standards, lack of resources, funding and career training for these youngsters that are mean`t to be our future investment?

Any IQ test is likely to be 'westernised', require prior education/training, and would probably be unappealing to the average Thai.

That being said I do think there is something rather 'missing' about many of these people, they look 'all there' but prove rather different. If they lived in the west, I think a great many might be regarded as mildly autistic.

I don't think it's an intelligence issue as such. And a dietary deficiency would surely also show some physical lack also?

[Thules]

Iodine deficiency also causes health problems like goitre and the (marvellously-named) Derbyshire Neck. I've never heard of them being a massive problem in Thailand.

Travelling through central Sumatera, Indonesia, decades ago I came across a place called Berestagi famed for its micro-climate and goitre. Having its particular micro-climate enabled people from Berestagi to harvest multiple fruit and vegetable crops each year. So why Goitre with such abundance of fruit & veg ? Simple, the sheer volume of rain they received promoted plant growth, but also leeched out the minerals and nutrients from the soil. Hence goitre amongst other illnesses was common locally. I didn't see any indication of low IQs.. To the contrary, they were fanatical when it came to playing games such as chess and bridge.

[TPI]

On 8/27/2010 at 3:36 AM, LaoPo said:

And, to continue with my post, above:

Effects of maternal iodine deficiency on the fetus and neonate

excerpt:

Thus, iodine deficiency puts virtually everyone in the affected population at some risk for brain damage. Many studies have compared performance of iodine-deficient children with that of iodine-sufficient peers on standardized intelligence tests. A meta-analysis of 18 such studies, comprising 2214 subjects, concluded that iodine deficiency lowered a mean intelligence quotient by 13.5 points (25). In view of the many people living in iodine-deficient areas and their vulnerability to its effects on the developing brain, these numbers indicate a staggering public health problem. This and neonatal mortality, rather than goitre, have become the main reasons for advocating urgent correction of iodine deficiency.

Conclusions

excerpt:

Iodised salt should be viewed as a means to an end—adequate iodine nutrition—rather than as an end in itself. Monitoring of people is essential. We have previously cited examples where initially successful programs later deteriorated, usually because of insufficient attention to monitoring (e.g. Guatemala, Mexico,Thailand; Ref. 29).

From: http://jcem.endojour...short/86/6/2360 - The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism

LaoPo

Sooo, you are suggesting that Thai children taking the appropriate iodine dose should/could have an IQ of 91 + 13.5? How does that figure with Thai children losing one point off their IQ after completing one year in kindergarden?

[DrTuner]

It's a 9 year old thread. I think these rotate somewhere on the portal sides and then the zombie wakes up. 

[seajae]

so they want us to believe it has nothing to do with the pathetic schooling and teachers in Thailand, maybe if they actually taught the kids properly and didnt simply give them all pass marks to save face they might improve, make them repeat the year if they fail would be a good start as would giving them true marks ie fail marks on exams/papers they write. 

[emptypockets]

On 8/27/2010 at 8:32 AM, cougar52 said:

I wonder why there is no study concerning the number of inbred children are not used and what effect it has.

There scores of children in Thailand that are born every year that are the product of incest, and many of the marriages in Thailand are between first cousins, not to mention the number of children that have a Father that is also his or her grandfather

Do you have verifiable data to support this claim? 

An opinion based on a degree in Barstoolology is not acceptable nor is a PhD (Pattaya heavy Drinker).

[emptypockets]

1 hour ago, DrTuner said:

It's a 9 year old thread. I think these rotate somewhere on the portal sides and then the zombie wakes up. 

Yep, just realised how old the thread is. Most posters would be either banned/left the country/dead. Or all three.

Interesting to read though. The Thai bashers were alive and well 9 years ago. 

I do have to wonder how many of the iodine taking intellectual supermen were taken to the cleaners by a low IQ iodine deficient Thai girl.

[Lingba]

of course its the iodine

[dcnx]

Nothing to do with a terrible education system. 

[dcnx]

1 hour ago, emptypockets said:

Do you have verifiable data to support this claim? 

An opinion based on a degree in Barstoolology is not acceptable nor is a PhD (Pattaya heavy Drinker).

You can see it in their faces. It’s the same as the inbred children in Appalachia. It’s fairly easy to spot and it’s very common here.

[zhounan]

What about the education system. University students do the same activities as primary school's students. 2-3 brainwashing activities for week, thanks to teachers, thanks to university, thanks to deans, thanks to mountains and rivers, thanks to king and queen, just some lessons and the exams are all pre-advised. Moreover, Thai students really don't read.

[NCC1701A]

It must be something the air. because a lot of very smart Farang men come here and become stupid really fast.

[lannarebirth]

A lot of people scoffed at the "sufficiency economy" but changing from a mindset of scarcity to a mindset of sufficiency or abundance will raise IQ  levels by 13 points or one standard deviation.

 

https://www.inc.com/jessica-stillman/how-to-increase-your-iq-by-13-points-adopt-an-abundance-mindset.html

[Scott]

Old topic/closed.