Pulse
Briefs
Salt Sense
In an op-ed piece in the New York Times in December, columnist Nicholas Kristof pointed out that one of the most cost-effective, easy-to-implement ways to improve the health and mental functioning of people in developing countries is overlooked because it’s so dull. That remedy: iodized salt.
Kristof noted that a recent Lancet article called iodine deficiency the “most common cause of preventable mental impairment worldwide.” It’s estimated that a third of the world’s people don’t get enough in their diets, with the effects ranging from goiters to mental slowness. Iodine deficiency in a pregnant woman may result in her child having an IQ that is 10 to 15 points lower than it would be otherwise.
Although cheap (it’s said to cost as little as 3 cents per person per year), iodized salt has generated little interest. Kristof urged the United States to follow the lead of Canada, which has launched the Micronutrient Initiative, the goal of which is to ensure the most vulnerable people in the world get the vitamins and minerals they need to survive and thrive. Kristof concluded: “There are many competing good causes—I’m a huge believer in spending more on education and maternal health, in particular—but there may be no investment that gets more bang for the buck than micronutrients.”
Source: “Raising the World’s I.Q.” by Nicholas D. Kristof. December 4, 2008, New York Times.
Teaching English and Health
Mayo Clinic and the Rochester Public Schools have launched an initiative to promote good health among refugees and immigrants.
Researchers from Mayo are working with the Hawthorne Education Center, which offers English classes to newcomers, to identify the health concerns of people who may not have had much exposure to health care in the past. The center eventually will provide students with practical information about preventing and managing diseases in addition to teaching them language skills.
The initiative is being funded with a two-year $100,000 grant from the National Institutes of Health, which will be supplemented with a $70,000 investment from Mayo’s Center for Translational Science Activities.
Using an approach called community-based participatory research, investigators will identify immigrants’ health concerns and figure out the best way to provide them with information about them. “In order to provide effective care, we need to find out from certain populations how best to address those needs,” says Irene Sia, M.D., an infectious disease researcher at Mayo and the initiative’s principal investigator.
Thus far, students at the Hawthorne Center have expressed interest in learning more about diabetes, asthma, hypertension, and tuberculosis—a disease that has affected a number of people at the school.
“If the community feels they are part of the process and have ownership in it, we’re going to be more successful in having them adhere to our recommendations about how to improve their health,” Sia says.—Kim Kiser