Latest Wearable Tech: A Bindi that Can Save Millions of Lives!

A bindi need not just be a symbol of beauty but can also save millions of lives. That’s the power of ideas!

A popular accessory may provide a wearable solution for a medical problem. A bindi, the traditional ‘dot’ Hindu women wear on their forehead to signify the third eye of intuition, may soon become a much-needed source of iodine (Photo: iStock)

It is a powerful idea.

There are more than 71 million Indians who suffer from severe iodine deficiency, which can cause a host of disorders like goitre, mental retardation, thyroid, even breast cancer and fibroids. But now women can be spared these severe medical conditions, because a special version of the bindi can serve as an iodine patch providing the important mineral to millions of women.

The Concept

Currently in trial, an iodine patch, designed like a regular bindi, is expected to help one lakh tribal women in north-west Maharashtra battle iodine deficiency (Photo: iStock)

Iodine deficiency is an acute health issue in India. The soil of the country has notoriously low iodine content, so food grown on it shows few traces of the element. As a result, most rural Indian women are prone to iodine deficiency disorders. Iodine-fortified salt mitigates the risk, yet the cost means an estimated 350 million Indians do not consume it.

(Source: National Iodine Deficiency Disorders Control Programme)

So, somewhere in the lanes of Singapore, the philanthropic foundation, Grey for Good, came up with this super cool idea of jazzing up the bindi into a nutrition supplement for Indian women. The project, Jeevan Bindi or Life Saving Dot, is being tested in western Maharashtra, and is the most inexpensive way to get more iodine through skin absorption.

The treated bindis have to be worn for a minimum of eight hours for the 150-220 mg of iodine to get absorbed by the skin.

The treated bindis act as transdermal patches, providing women with the 150 to 220 micrograms of iodine they require daily (Photo: Grey for Good)

The beauty of the idea is that it fits into an established cultural tradition. It’s hard to get rural woman to make massive behavioural changes. Here, all they have to do is wear the same bindi that they wear every day.
– Ali Shabaz, Chief Creative Officer, Grey Group, Singapore

How Does It Work?

Grey Group is working with one of India’s largest bindi producers, to distribute the product for free in a small number of pilot areas (Photo: iStock)

The Life Saving Dot uses the same technology and design as nicotine patches, and it’s cheap; production costs are minimal, at just two rupees per pack.

Even the medically available iodine patch tests, applied on the arm or the abdomen work on the same principle. If the iodine disappears, the person who is undergoing the test may have an iodine deficiency, which is indicated by the fact that the solution was quickly absorbed by the skin.

However, there are some concerns about this technology. There is a lot of medical literature which says that less than 12% of the iodine on the patch is absorbed by the body and the rest is evaporated. So if 150mg is the required daily dose, a far bigger amount may be required on the skin. So a high concentration of iodine will have to be present in the bindis.

The bindi does not have any side effects or cause skin rashes and can be worn for many hours at a stretch. Even after the iodine is absorbed by the body, it just becomes a regular dot.

The manufacturers hope that by 2016, Indian women can go to a corner shop, choose an infused bindi and fight iodine deficiency without a second thought.