GOITRE CURE.

Hawera Star, Volume XLV, 12 September 1925, Page 7

GOITRE CURE.

EAT SEAWEED. HEALTH MINISTER’S SUGGESTION EXAMPLE OF EARLY MAORIS. FROM OUR PARLIAMENTARY REPORTER. WELLINGTON, Sep. : 12. “I recommend my European friends to eat a little seaweed,’’ was the concluding advice of Sir M. Pomare (Minister for Health) after he had answered questions of members regarding the Health Department’s efforts to reduce the evidence of goitre. The public must not run away with the idea that the ordinary salt they used was a spieifice for goitre, because this salt had had the iodine purified out of it. There was a kind of salt used in Europe containing iodine, he said. The New Zealand Health Department had made a general survey of the Dominion soils because of the suggestion that a lack of iodine in the soil was the cause of goitre. With the consent of parents school children were being given iodine in various forms, including chocolates or other forms making it easy to administer. In that way the department would get ahead in regard to goitre. The Minister interested members greatly in his explanation of why goitre was not prevalent among the Maoris in ancient times. They used to collect kurangi, a kind of seaweed, which was bartered to inland _ tribes, and it was largely eaten. This contained a lot of iodine. Similar seaweed was eaten on the west coast of Ireland and in France. The Maoris were certainly free of goitre in the old days, so the Minister smilingly passed on this dietary advice to Europeans. He immediately .'got his Health Department Estimates (£24,800) through an appreciative House.