This is something we GD peeps should avoid, when in active GD meaning hyper.

Folks who live near the sea and eat lots of local food don’t have to worry too much about getting enough salt or iodine. However…..

Historically people who live away from the sea, in particular folks in mountainous regions, did not have access to sea salt. So they used locally obtained salt, and especially salt from mountainous areas did not have much iodine. Hence the addition of iodine, which did eliminate a lot of thyroid problems. However once the masking effect of a low iodine diet were eliminated, thyroid problems that had been suppressed by iodine deficiency appeared.

Those of us with Graves in particular have to be careful not to have too much iodine. An iodine deficiency would in theory counteract Graves but it’s probably not a very effective way to go.

In terms of natural salt, prsumably the salt from Utah is tested just like everything else and is free of problems. But we really need to be aware of natural additives as well. Salt is a mineral, and as such subject to intermixture with a wide variety of other minerals, many of them not good for us.

The example of the Bangladesh water project is illuminating. In an effort to combat dysentery caused by srface water contaminated by feces, vast amounts of time and effort were expended in digging wells which extended far below the surface to pure uncontamited water. Very quickly the dysentery was drastically lessened which was good, since it is a leading killer in 3rd world countries. However a few years later a new major health problem erupted. All that groundwater was contaminated with naturally occuring arsenic which is the 20th most common element in the Earths crust. Amounts were low enough that the symptoms took a few years to appear. The lesson is pretty clear-natural doesn’t mean safe.

Personally I use sea salt to flavor my food and on the rare occaisions I cook something that calls for a recipe with salt. But my biggest intake of salt, aside from sea food, is probably in things like cereal or other prepared foods-think everytime I eat out or eat bread or similar things.

In its hydrous form, Na4Fe(CN)6•10H2O (sodium ferrocyanide decahydrate), it is generally known as yellow prussiate of soda. From:wikipedia

As yellow prussiate of soda, it is added to road and food grade salt as an anticaking agent. When combined with iron, it converts to a deep blue pigment which is the main component of Prussian blue. In photography it is used for bleaching, toning and fixing. It is used as a stabilizer for the coating on welding rods. In the petroleum industry it is used for removal of mercaptans.

Well, this is really not anything I want in my food!