Common salt or Iodized salt: What's the difference?

                              What is salt? Generally salt is a mineral known as Sodium chloride (NaCl), which is a combination of 40% of sodium and 60% of chlorine. It has been actually, a regular part of our daily life where it is added to food varieties to enhance the flavor in it. It can also be used in high amounts to preserve foods like sauces, pickles, etc which helps to destroy the growth of bacteria in food that may spoil the food. Salt also contains some trace amounts of calcium, potassium, zinc, and iron, and other essential minerals which help to act as important electrolytes. These electrolytes help to maintain the fluid balances in the body, nerve transmission, muscle function, etc. Nowadays, there are different types of the salt present like

• sea salt
• plain table salt
• pink salt
• iodized salt

Iodized salt

The different varieties of salt vary in taste, texture, and color. However, salt is obtained from the seashores or mined from the underground salt deposits. For eg, sea salt is produced through the evaporation of the seawater, with a little processing whereas plain salt can be extracted from the salt mines. But this table salt is more processed to eliminate the other minerals. Both the table salt and sea salt have equal nutritional value and contain comparable amounts of sodium in it.

sea salt

                              

What is Iodized salt?

        It is actually a type of table salt made by spraying the common regular salt with a tiny amount of potassium iodate (KI) or simply iodine is added to it. Iodized salt also contains dextrose and anti-caking agents that are necessary or else this potassium iodate may evaporate or gets clumped.

Iodine:- It is an element needed in trace amounts for the body to maintain normal health. However, it can be found only in seafood, dairy products, eggs, and grains. It can also be found in seaweeds, cod, yogurt, milk, shrimp, macaroni, eggs, etc.

But why is salt iodized?

          Salt is iodized to prevent the deficiency of iodine in the body. Generally, our thyroid gland uses iodine to produce thyroid hormones which help in the proper growth and development and also regulate metabolism. It controls the body temperature, blood pressure, and heart rate. But sometimes, iodine levels are decreased in the body which leads to iodine deficiency that leads to other severe problems in the body.

 Iodized salt prevents this deficiency, and by fortifying the table salt with iodine, iodized salt is prepared. It can be easily added to the common food without changing the taste or color. It is an easy way to include iodine in our diet and helps to combat other iodine deficiency diseases like thyroid, squinting, etc.

                                                 

 Iodine deficiency:-

                Sometimes, low levels of iodine can lead to the swelling of the neck ie, goiter, a condition when your body doesn't meet enough iodine, the thyroid gland is forced to make more hormones - causing cells to multiply and grow rapidly resulting in goiter. Or decrease in the thyroid hormones leads to some adverse effects like hair loss, fatigue, weight gain, etc 

The risk of iodine deficiency and thyroid (hyper and hypothyroidism,) has increased over the past few decades and unfortunately, women are being victims (compared to men), and especially pregnant and breastfeeding women are at a high risk as they need more iodine. 

Low levels of iodine can cause brain damage and other severe problems with mental development in young children. It has become a major problem and hence, the use of iodized salt can be a good choice to beat this deficiency.

Regular salt vs Iodized salt:-

•  Both the regular common salt and the iodized salt look the same and tastes the same! There might be no difference in the case of it's minerals. and nutritional values too. The only difference is the addition of iodine in the iodized salt. 
• However, iodine can be oxidized and cause darkening of foods when kept overtime. In that case, normal salt can be used. For eg: Normal salt can be used in many things instead of iodized ones such as pickles, brine solution, soya sauces, mayonnaise, and many others which are kept or stored for a longer period.
• Regular salt can also be used in many things, though it does not provide iodine, it can provide you with sodium - that needs to maintain the electrolyte balance in the body.
• By taking small servings of iodine-rich foods like seafood, or others, you can easily get enough iodine through diet, without the use of iodized salt.
• If you think you're not getting enough iodine from food, then iodized salt is a better choice for you. You can simply add it to your food by seasoning or other means.

                                                

Excess intake of salt:-

                            However, the excess intake of salt whether normal or oxidized is not good for health. The WHO recommends less than 5 gms of salt for adults and other studies have shown that app.1500 mg of sodium can be consumed. Studies have also shown the safe limit of iodized salt is up to 23 gms (4 tablespoons) per day. The excess intake of salt can lead to water retention, rise in blood pressure, bloating or stomach cramps. It can also increase the rate of heart disease but more research is being done on it.