When categorizing its 10 greatest public health achievements of the 20th century, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention made sure to include "safer and healthier foods." Yet the iodization of salt, the most effective dietary intervention of the 20th century, received a paltry eight words in a 3,400-word article (CDC, 1999).
Although the effectiveness of iodine in treating goiter had been known since 1821, it was a full century before the successful management of this disease became a fac…