THE ANTITHYROID EFFECT OF CERTAIN FOODS IN MAN AS DETERMINED WITH RADIOACTIVE IODINE1

Abstract

Although iodine deficiency is well established as an etiologic factor in endemic goiter, it sometimes appears that other agents may be responsible. It is evident that the sporadic goiter which occurs in a “goiter-free” area where there is a relatively high concentration of iodine in the soil and water cannot be satisfactorily explained on an iodine deficiency basis. Before the discovery of iodine, investigators had advanced many hypotheses as to the cause of goiter, but with the general acceptance of the “iodine-lack” theory in the second and third decades of this century most of the earlier ideas were discarded. In view of the inability of this “deficiency” theory to explain many instances of this disease, however, other causes have been sought. For many centuries the thought has existed that dietary habits might be responsible for endemic goiter. The Tyroleans, for instance, believed that their “swelled necks” were caused by eating a type of Alpine chestnut (Barton, 1800).