TABLE 7.

Seminal events in the history of iodine

• Greeks (Galen) used sponge and seaweed as cures for swollen neck

• Italian physicians of the School of Salerno were the first to report the specific use of the sponge and dried seaweed to treat goiter

• 13th century: de Villanova cautioned that the effect of the sponge on goiter was limited; it could cure goiter of recent origin in young people but had only a modest effect on large, chronic goiters

• 1811: Courtois discovered iodine when he added sulfuric acid to burnt seaweed ash and produced an intense violet vapor that crystallized on cold surfaces

• Gay-Lussac subsequently identified this substance as a new element, and named it iodine from the Greek for “violet”

• 1813: Coindet, a physician in Geneva, Switzerland, hypothesized that the effectiveness of seaweed or sponges in treating goiter was due to their iodine content (62). He began giving oral iodine tinctures to goitrous patients and claimed his treatment was effective and safe

• Boussingault, working in the Andes, was the first to advocate prophylaxis with naturally iodine-rich salt to prevent goiter

• 1851: Chatin became the first to publish the hypothesis that iodine deficiency was the cause of goiter and subsequently proposed distributing iodized salt in the goitrous zones of France

• 1915–1918: Marine and Kimball introduced iodine supplements in the Midwest region of the United States to treat endemic goiter

• 1918: the Swiss physician Bayard conducted the first dose-response trial of iodine to treat goiter (63). Bayard established that as little as 30 μg of iodine daily had a clear beneficial effect on goiter

• 1922: the surgeon Eggenberger introduced iodized salt to prevent goiter and cretinism in northeastern Switzerland