China Extracts Organic Iodine from KelpA company in east China's Shandong province recently cooperated with Shandong Normal University to extract organic iodine from kelp, a result deemed important to eradicating diseases caused by lack of iodine.There are about 450 million Chinese living in iodine-absent regions. Usually there are two ways to enrich iodine, one is to take iodized salt, and the other is to take iodine oil pills. However, research shown that some 76 percent of iodine in salt was lost during the process of production, transportation and cooking, while taking iodine-oil pills may give rise to iodine- poisoning. By comparison, iodine obtained from kelp will not easily dissipate even after being heated for two hours, and it is more likely to be absorbed than inorganic iodine. Moreover, research on white rats proved that daily intake of 200 grams of organic iodine is safe. It is introduced that the cost to produce organic iodine is lower than inorganic iodine. China boasts rich resources of kelp. Changdao Island in the province alone produces 18,000 tons of kelp, which is enough to meet half of national demand for iodine. |
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