Apotek 1 states that they see a trend all over the country of people buying iodine supplements instead of Jodix, which is the highly concentrated version.
“We experience that customers around the country come into our pharmacies and do not know the difference between iodine in prepared form and iodine supplements. What people should have after a nuclear accident is highly concentrated iodine and not the dietary supplement,” communications manager Kjersti Solberg Ofstad told Norwegian Broadcasting (NRK).
In highly concentrated Jodix, which the authorities recommend to have at home in the event of a nuclear accident or similar, there are 130 milligrams per tablet. In the regular iodine supplements, there are around 200 micrograms per tablet.
Mainly people under the age of 40, pregnant women, and women who are breastfeeding who are recommended to have iodine tablets at home. The recommendation applies to these groups because they have the greatest risk of getting thyroid cancer if they are exposed to radioactive iodine in nuclear accidents.
The tablets should only be taken based on expert advice.
In contact with customers
Solberg Ofstad at Apotek 1 says that the pharmacy chain has contacted customers who have ordered iodine supplements in their online store to make sure that they have made the correct order.
Due to the high demand, Apotek 1 has introduced restrictions on the purchase of Jodix. Apoteket’s customers can buy a maximum of one pack of the Jodix package with 100 tablets and a maximum of three packs of the pack of ten tablets, Apotek 1 informed NTB.
Order surge
The company Vitalkost also stated in a press release that they have experienced a surge in orders for an iodine supplement they produce as a result of the situation in Ukraine.
“We have seen a sudden increase of almost 800% in sales of SHIFT Iodine, and can only see this coming as a result of the war in Ukraine. We, therefore, feel it our duty to inform that there is a difference between an iodine supplement and iodine tablets (the latter are made primarily to protect the body against radioactive radiation),” said general manager Totto Solvang at Vitalkost stated.
Iodine supplements are taken to maintain normal thyroid and nervous system function, while Jodiz is designed to prevent the effects of radioactive iodine on the thyroid gland.
“We are happy that people buy our products, but we want it to be on the right basis. When we see that people buy SHIFT Iodine in the belief that it protects against radiation, it is our duty to clarify,” he said.
The spike in demand for highly concentrated iodine is related to the war in Ukraine. On Thursday last week, Ukraine declared that Russia had taken control of the old nuclear plant in Chernobyl, which is located about 130 kilometers north of Kyiv.
Source: © NTB Scanpix / #Norway Today / #NorwayTodayNews
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