Talk about food for the mind and brain!

You may remember an insulting word: cretin. We called people we considered stupid that but, as kids, we never knew why it was bad to be a cretin.

It’s actually not just an insult but a real medical term; or was. A cretin was a child who grew up severely mentally retarded due to lack of iodine in the diet. There are various theories for the origin of the word, including Cretanism (Crete was one place notorious for cretinism, before the real cause was found).

Nowadays, health workers don’t use the term cretin, because it’s insulting. Instead we call it congenital hypothyroidism. But the cause is still too little iodine in the diet.

I’m telling you all this to fix in your mind the fact that mental function is disastrously impaired, in the absence of adequate dietary iodine. Beware! Continue reading →