Iodine and dairy
- Laura Wayte
- 1 day ago
- 2 min read
The Centers for Disease Control and the National Institutes of Health have announced this year that American women of reproductive age are not getting enough iodine. This is a very important nutrient for fetal intellectual development and so supplementation is important when pregnant, they said.
The primary reason this is happening is a reduction in dairy consumption. While other cultures get iodine from eating significantly more seafood (fish, shrimp and seaweed) than Americans do, our culture relies more on dairy and iodized table salt.
Now that I have worked on a farm for a few years, I can explain why dairy is an important source, and it isn't because iodine occurs naturally in cows milk.
Back in the 1960s, farmers began disinfecting a cow's teats with a gentle solution of iodine in order to prevent contagious mastitis from traveling through a herd. It worked better than the chlorine dip that was previously used.
A side benefit of this new practice was that the nation's milk supply became a significant source of iodine in Americans' diets.
When we prepare our cows for milking in Creamy Cow Dairy, they are washed four times:
Spray down the animal with untreated water to remove large debris and mud.
Spray down the animal with treated well water.
Wash the udder with warm, soapy water
Dip the teat in iodine solution.
Then, after milking, we dip with iodine again to help the cow resist those microbes further.
The iodine residue is taken up with the milk when we pump their teats, and becomes a trace nutrient in the finished product.
We are used to hearing about negative side-effects and unintended consequences in the world, but this one is an example on the positive side.
Photo credit: Manda Walker
