IODINE CONTENT OF SEA FOODS 3 



BIBLIOGRAPHICAL 



About 75 years ago Chatin brought forward the theory that 

 endemic thyroid disorders, such as goiter and cretinism, were caused 

 by a lack of iodine in food, drinking water, and air. Chatin dis- 

 tinguished four zones, as follows : 



1. Normal zone, goiter and cretinism unknown. In this zone the 

 air, water, and food that a man consumes daily contain a total of 

 1/100 to 1/200 milligram of iodine. 



2. Goiter rare, cretinism unkno\\-n. Distinguished from zone 

 No. 1 only by very hard, iodine-free drinking water. 



3. Goiter more or less common, cretinism unknown. In these 

 regions the daily ingestion of iodine by man is from 1/500 to 1/1000 

 milligram of iodine. 



4. Goiter prevalent, cretinism common. The daily ingestion of 

 iodine is less than 1/2000 milligram of iodine. 



In 1852 the Paris Academy of Sciences appointed a commission to 

 verify Chatin 's work. The commission examined foods, water, air, 

 etc. " Their results agreed with those of Chatin, and they were 

 convinced that iodine was distributed in nature as Chatin claimed. 

 On the other hand, however, the theory that endemic goiter was 

 caused by a deficiency of iodine in food, water, and air was not 

 acknowledged. 



Since Chatin's early work, thousands of investigators have studied 

 the cause and treatment of goiter and cretinism. The ultimate result 

 of the work was the discovery of the active principle, thyroxin, of the 

 thyroid gland by Kendall, who has shown its constitution to be 4, 5, 

 6 trihydro — 4, 5, 6 triodo — 2 keto B. indolepropionic acid. 



The discovery of the iodine-containing principle, thyroxin, and that 

 most of the disorders of the thyroid can be cured by daily administra- 

 tion of thyroxin gives much ground for the belief that goiter is caused 

 by a deficiency of iodine in food and water. Only recently von 

 Fellenberg (1923) has presented a great deal of evidence to support 

 Chatin's theories that goiter and cretinism are caused by a lack of 

 iodine in foods. Von Fellenberg has compared the iodine content of 

 the foods and water of the people of La Chaux-de-Fonds (a district 

 free from goiter) with that of the foods and water of the people of 

 Signau, where goiter is prevalent. He showed that the average 

 amount of iodine in the food consumed in one day by an inliabitant 

 of La Chaux-de-Fonds was 0.0313 milligram, whereas the iodine 

 found in the average day's food of an inhabitant of Signau was only 

 0.0130 milligram. It will be seen that, while his figures do not agree 

 with Chatin's zones, it was shown that the foods in normal regions 

 contain much more iodine than those from regions where goiter is 

 endemic. His figures showing the iodine content of foods and water 

 in the two regions are presented in Table 3. 



