Open-air laboratory, Switzerland has turned an intuition into victory for global public health. Thanks to three visionary doctors, it invented the iodization of table salt, a practice that helped defeat the scourge of cretinism in the Alps before being adopted elsewhere.
Between 1875 and 1876, as tourism began to flourish in the alpine valleys of Switzerland, the well-known French geographer Elisée Reclus, returning from a trip, described some inhabitants of the mountain regions in a less than flattering way.
“It was about these strong men, these brave mountaineers with solid chests and piercing gazes, who climb rocks with a firm step, dragging hideous masses of living flesh, the cretins with goiter hanging,” he wrote in his work “The Story of a Mountain.”
The quote summarizes the numerous testimonies of the time regarding cretinism. A scourge also highlighted in the Encyclopedia of Diderot and d’Alembert in 1751.
What is cretinism?
People affected by “cretinism” often have developmental disorders that can cause dwarfism, deafness, and mutism in particular. In many cases, there is also swelling of the neck called “goiter.” The most serious consequences are cerebral, limiting mental development, often restricted to that of a young child.
Since Roman times, this disease has been known to be particularly widespread in the alpine regions. Before its eradication at the beginning of the 20th century, estimates indicated that up to 90% of the high-altitude valley population suffered from goiter and 2% from cretinism. At that time, many of these individuals were institutionalized, but most remained with their families.
In 1810, a census conducted by Napoleon in Valais indicated that out of 70,000 inhabitants, about 4,000 were “cretins.” The term, which became derogatory over time, likely comes from “crestin,” itself derived from the Latin “christianus” (Christian).
It was likely spread to refer to people affected by this mysterious condition, a euphemism to imply that they remained fully Christian, and therefore innocent, and thus beloved by God.
Cretin, between tourist attraction and study subject
In the alpine valleys, “cretins” became a tourist attraction and a captivating subject for medical studies. At the time, many hypotheses were put forward to explain the phenomenon: poor hygiene, consanguinity, humidity, poor water quality, etc.
The real explanation actually lies not so much in the presence of an external factor as in its absence. Cretinism is actually caused by a diet poor in iodine.
Why the Alps?
This chemical element, present in large quantities in the oceans, settled on the land after the withdrawal of the ancient seas. But the immense ice cap that covered the Alpine region during the last glaciation gradually “washed” away the iodine.
It was only in 1965 that the Bel…
