"In 1921, nearly 30 per cent of 19-year-old Swiss conscripts had a goitre. In the cantons of Luzern and Obwalden, one in four men were exempt from military service as a result of goitres so large they struggled to breathe. For every man with a goitre, three women suffered from the condition"

https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v45/n23/jonah-goodman/a-national-evil