Why is there a significant increase in the incidence of thyroid nodules in cities: Iodine is indeed a micronutrient that is indispensable for life. Both iodine deficiency and excess iodine can lead to thyroid lesions, a fact that has long been confirmed by scientific research. It is well known that the promotion of iodized salt first began in Switzerland, the United States and Austria in the 1880s. In China, iodization of salt was introduced in 1994, but nearly 20 years later, the “fruits” have been harvested! The incidence of thyroid nodules and cancer has skyrocketed! The reason for this is not unrelated to salt iodization! Of course, I believe there are other factors to be clarified. But forcible and uniform iodization is definitely the primary reason! When China was economically backward and people’s living standards were low, when food was scarce and people had little intake of seafood, salt iodization played a positive role in preventing iodine deficiency diseases. With China’s economic take-off, people’s living standards have improved greatly, and the consumption of various iodine-rich foods such as seafood, seaweed and nori has allowed people to have sufficient iodine intake every day, especially in economically developed areas such as Shanghai and Zhejiang, where the problem of iodine deficiency almost does not exist, but rather the problem of excessive iodine intake has emerged. Moreover, as far as China is concerned, inland and coastal, iodine deficiency and excess are very different. It is noted that historically, coastal areas are not iodine deficient, but on the contrary, there will be excess for harm. Inland areas are only partly iodine deficient and partly iodine rich! Secondly, the lack of iodine in the past was due to the inconvenience of transportation, and at that time, inland seafood was a rarity! Nowadays, seafood in large and medium-sized cities has become a common thing on the dinner table! Iodine deficiency has generally decreased! And the problem of too much iodine comes to the fore. Therefore for people with thyroid nodules, especially in coastal areas, it is important to consume non-iodized salt and to strictly limit the intake of seafood such as seaweed and nori. However, the fact is that the supply of non-iodized salt in the market is very low nowadays and it is difficult to buy it. Another time when I held a lecture in Dalian, an old lady who suffered from thyroid cancer said to me with righteous indignation that there was so much seafood in Dalian and we had this disease, which must have something to do with the high consumption of local seafood and iodine intake, but now we could not buy non-iodized salt. On the one hand, I was comforting the old lady, but on the other hand, I knew that the incidence of thyroid cancer and thyroid nodules in coastal areas is so high that the relevant government agencies should take into account the regional differences when implementing the iodized salt policy and make adjustments accordingly. This kind of uniform approach without taking into account the specific target (people and living environment) will definitely lead to droughts in the east and floods in the west. Why do women have a higher incidence? On the one hand, it is known that women usually prefer to eat seafood and fish, which contain high levels of iodine. They also have other sources of iodine intake, so they are more prone to lesions. The second major factor is psychological, mainly entanglement or chronic stress, commonly known as sexual impatience, and living under stress. In Chinese medicine, thyroid disease is equivalent to “gall tumor” in Chinese medicine. Gall disease has been documented in China as early as the third century B.C. In Chinese medicine, the main cause of gall tumors is internal injury to the emotions, prolonged depression or anger, which causes qi stagnation, liver qi loss of control, fluid coalescence into phlegm, and congestion in the front of the neck, resulting in gall tumors. Women tend to be more sensitive than men and are more prone to chronic stress, impatience, or entanglement than men. In fact, those who are irritable, tangled, have high liver fire and liver qi stagnation are prone to such diseases. Therefore, for urban women, in the highly competitive modern society, to be good at regulating their own emotions, to maintain a stable and good personality, do not take things too far, cultivate a variety of useful hobbies, such as music, books, paintings, flowers and birds, greenery, etc.. Through this, you can stabilize your emotions, cultivate your temperament, optimize your personality and develop a healthy lifestyle. Another factor is that hormone levels may be related to the development of thyroid nodules and thyroid cancer, which is one of the factors why the incidence of thyroid lesions is higher in women than in men. The thyroid gland is responsible for iodine uptake and storage, synthesis and secretion of thyroxine, and female hormones, including estrogen and progesterone, are likely to be involved in the occurrence and development of thyroid nodules and thyroid cancer, while women aged 20-40 are in the prime of life and have the highest hormone levels in their bodies in their lifetime, promoting the occurrence of thyroid nodules and thyroid cancer What are the chances of cancer? Is it possible to develop cancer? Don’t freak out, thyroid nodules are usually not harmful! However, there is a relationship between calcification of thyroid nodules and cancer. However, calcification of thyroid nodules does not necessarily lead to cancer. There is a process for any disease to develop into cancer. On the one hand, the possibility of thyroid nodules developing into thyroid cancer is not high, on the other hand, there is a long process even for calcified thyroid nodules to turn into thyroid cancer. Therefore, there is no need to worry too much. Usually, in life, you should maintain an optimistic mood and personality, urban women should eat less seafood type, and those with thyroid nodules can have regular ultrasound examinations. Even if thyroid cancer, usually the malignancy is not high and the 5-year survival rate is very high.