In Austria, Germany and Switzerland, there were entire villages inhabited only cretins

Cretinism - a medical term for endocrine disease caused by a lack of thyroid hormone (hypothyroidism), is characterized by a dysfunction of the thyroid gland and delayed physical and mental development.

Residents of the Alps almost to a man suffering from a disease of the thyroid gland due to iodine deficiency in the total body. Because of this, people had huge swollen blisters on the location of the throat. Also, it was the result of a huge number of cretins - mentally retarded people who inhabited the village. The reasons are called "bad water", "stale air" ... Only in the 19th century, first made the assumption that the culprit - a lack of iodine.

In January 1910 the Austrian psychiatrist Julius Wagner-Hauregg scientifically proven that the cause of the Alpine giperioza is the lack of iodine in the diet, and in 1922 released the first Austrian saltworks iodized salt, which saved Austria, Germany and Switzerland.

via factroom.ru