Acute iodine deficiency is costing Israelis IQ points and all we need to do to prevent neuro-damage is iodize salt like rest of world, say doctors.

For the first time, Israelis have been surveyed for iodine levels and the discovered deficiencies have shocked scientists: 85 percent of pregnant women have insufficient iodine intake and the same goes for 62 percent of school-age children. Perhaps the chronic deficiency is even a cause behind the embarrassingly low scores by Israeli pupils in international exams.

The median iodine concentration found in urine of the test subjects indicate that the iodine status in Israel is amongst the lowest in the world, writes the team. "Most of the world adds iodine to salt. We don't," explains researcher Prof. Aron Troen to Haaretz.