An initiative called 'Life Saving Dot' is trying use bindis, small dots worn by women between their eyebrows, to deliver an essential micronutrient to women who might not be getting enough.

That's the idea behind a new campaign from the Neelvasant Medical Foundation and Research Centre, a nonprofit based in Nashik, India. The organization worked with the creative ad agency Grey Group Singapore to come up with a way to coat the back of bindis with iodine. The hope is that the iodine will be absorbed by the skin, says Dr. Prachi Pawar, who's leading the project at the nonprofit.

"There are patch systems for many medicines now, so the bindis are a really cool idea," says Michael Zimmermann, nutrition researcher at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich. "But it would have been more satisfying — and convincing — if [the organizers] had done a bit of work beforehand to show that it actually delivers iodine."

"It's still unknown whether the iodine stays on the dots,", says Roland Kupka, senior micronutrient adviser for UNICEF. "If women wear the bindis in the sun and under harsh conditions, it would really be a shame to see the iodine evaporate after a certain amount of time," he says.

"But it's excellent to see interest in addressing iodine deficiency in India given that iodine is so important for brain development," Kupka adds.