Anonymous
Post 09/21/2013 08:10     Subject: Do you feed your child seaweed?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:We eat a lot of seaweed, however not really the snack packs you are talking about.

We eat the dried seaweed that is rehydrated and used for soups and salad. This is a main staple in our home, as it is a vegetable that is insanely easy to prepare and keeps in the pantry forever. It is salty, but there is no added salt. It is salty from the sea. Iodine is added to processed salt.

Most of the snack packs I've seen contain MSG, which is why we avoid.


But that minimally processed seaweed does have a very high level of naturally occurring iodine, which is the issue about which the OP is concerned.


Well I'm guest guessing that if a family is eating a good amount of minimally processed seaweed, they are not exactly eating the other kinds of foods that have a lot of added salt that certainly contains iodine, such as processed foods and junk foods. I would bet that they use sea salt and not table salt when salting their food. A seaweed eating family probably has nothing to worry about in area of nutrition.
Anonymous
Post 09/20/2013 18:30     Subject: Re:Do you feed your child seaweed?
It's the radiation--iodine-131, not iodine unto itself. Thyroid cancers went up after nuclear testing in this country:

http://www.americanscientist.org/issues/issue.aspx?id=982&y=0&no=&content=true&page=6&css=print

Anonymous
Post 09/20/2013 18:24     Subject: Re:Do you feed your child seaweed?
Anonymous wrote:OP here. Thanks for the comments. I'm not worried about the sodium. It's less than 50 mg per package/serving. This is what concerns me about the iodine:

http://www.scmp.com/article/258985/too-much-roast-seaweed-health-risk-children

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/08/21/superfood-seaweed-health-benefits_n_3786076.html



The Huffington Post article links to a study for harmful sides effects, "This study identified a positive association between seaweed consumption and the risk of thyroid cancer (especially for papillary carcinoma) in postmenopausal women."

However, it doesn't say whether the study controlled for Fukushima exposure:

http://rt.com/news/fukushima-children-thyroid-cancer-783/

That's probably the real culprit--more likely from their drinking water and soil rather than seaweed.

Anonymous
Post 09/20/2013 15:12     Subject: Re:Do you feed your child seaweed?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:OP here. Thanks for the comments. I'm not worried about the sodium. It's less than 50 mg per package/serving. This is what concerns me about the iodine:

http://www.scmp.com/article/258985/too-much-roast-seaweed-health-risk-children

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/08/21/superfood-seaweed-health-benefits_n_3786076.html



I really wouldn't take my health information from a Chinese paper discussing Chinese products.


Where do you think the seaweed comes from?


The sea?
Anonymous
Post 09/20/2013 14:27     Subject: Re:Do you feed your child seaweed?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:OP here. Thanks for the comments. I'm not worried about the sodium. It's less than 50 mg per package/serving. This is what concerns me about the iodine:

http://www.scmp.com/article/258985/too-much-roast-seaweed-health-risk-children

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/08/21/superfood-seaweed-health-benefits_n_3786076.html



I really wouldn't take my health information from a Chinese paper discussing Chinese products.


Where do you think the seaweed comes from?
Anonymous
Post 09/20/2013 14:05     Subject: Re:Do you feed your child seaweed?
Iodine deficiency is also linked to cretinism. So, pregnant ladies -- make sure you're getting enough (yes, prenatals contain iodine, but I know some on this board don't do prenatals).
Anonymous
Post 09/20/2013 13:25     Subject: Do you feed your child seaweed?
That's what I thought-Iodine dificiency is linked to the cause goiter and thyroid issues. Thus, they have iodine salt.....

They have unsalted seaweed packages. We also eat the regular seaweed that are not wafer. Many kinds. Don't eat it every day but several times a month.
Anonymous
Post 09/20/2013 11:49     Subject: Do you feed your child seaweed?
Anonymous wrote:We eat a lot of seaweed, however not really the snack packs you are talking about.

We eat the dried seaweed that is rehydrated and used for soups and salad. This is a main staple in our home, as it is a vegetable that is insanely easy to prepare and keeps in the pantry forever. It is salty, but there is no added salt. It is salty from the sea. Iodine is added to processed salt.

Most of the snack packs I've seen contain MSG, which is why we avoid.


But that minimally processed seaweed does have a very high level of naturally occurring iodine, which is the issue about which the OP is concerned.
Anonymous
Post 09/20/2013 11:45     Subject: Do you feed your child seaweed?
We eat a lot of seaweed, however not really the snack packs you are talking about.

We eat the dried seaweed that is rehydrated and used for soups and salad. This is a main staple in our home, as it is a vegetable that is insanely easy to prepare and keeps in the pantry forever. It is salty, but there is no added salt. It is salty from the sea. Iodine is added to processed salt.

Most of the snack packs I've seen contain MSG, which is why we avoid.