Dear Editor:
Roxanne with RMR makes a good point about sea salt adding flavor to a TEOTWAWKI diet. As a physician I must caution everyone that the brief mention she makes about iodine being added to “regular salt” is not a minor issue. In my practice I have identified modern day patients who are actually iodine deficient, something most physicians, even most endocrinologists, think can’t happen. A very respected endocrinologist whom I trained under speaks about when he was a child and families in Utah becoming iodine deficient over the course of winter because of their diet. Iodine needs to be a calculated part of a survival scheme, otherwise, children born post-TEOTWAWKI will be born with cretinism. It will be hard enough to take care of a family in these circumstances. Having one that is mentally retarded will only make survival that much more difficult. – Dr. G.
JWR Replies: Sea salt actually contains low levels of iodine, but not as much as found in commercial iodized salt. However, there are many foods like eggs, some seafoods, cheddar cheese and others that are commonly eaten which contain substantial amounts of iodine. So iodized salt isn’t truly necessary unless you are not getting iodine from these natural dietary sources. (For some details on storage foods, see the Rawles Gets You Ready Preparedness Course.) My own approach to be absolutely sure of providing sufficient level of iodine is as follows: I use bulk (one pound canister) iodized table salt when brining (such as when making venison and elk jerky) and in most of my cooking (such as the salt that I add to the water when cooking pasta). The onion salt that I also use when cooking some meats is also iodized. But the salt that I serve at my dinner table is Celtic Sea Salt. This way, I provide my family with the attributes of both products.