"A century ago, much of northern America was known as the goiter belt," said The Economist. A lack of natural iodine in the soil and water, and an iodine-poor diet, led to the "characteristic neck ...

The region was widely known as the “goiter belt,” for the goiters — heavily swollen thyroid glands — that bulged from many residents’ necks. The issue was more than cosmetic: Iodine ...