Dateline: 12/1/99
Global health experts announced in a news conference in Bogota, Colombia yesterday that iodine deficiency continues to be a serious threat to global health, cautioning that problems far more serious than the enlarged thyroid known as a goiter can result.
At the conference, which was organized by UNICEF, experts warned that insufficient iodine in the diet is the most common -- yet also most preventable -- cause of brain damage throughout the world.
Around the world in most nations, iodine deficiency is the most common cause of preventable mental retardation and brain damage, with 1.6 billion people at risk. Children with IDD and its resulting hypothyroidism can suffer from stunted growth, with mental retardation and problems in movement, speech or hearing. IDD actually affects some 50 million children. When a woman with IDD becomes pregnant, she risks miscarriage, stillbirth and mental retardation in her baby. (See also, Babies Born to Hypothyroid Mothers Have Lower I.Q.'s.
Even what's considered a mild iodine deficiency can hamper the growth of children's brains, reduce their IQ, and cause learning disabilities.
At the new conference, the WHO's Jose Antonio Solis, said that some 1 billion people around the world are at risk of health problems due to IDD. For example, in Latin America and the Caribbean, as much as 25 percent of the population -- a total of almost 200 million people -- is at greater risk of goiter, at minimum.
Iodine Deficiency on Rise in US
While iodine deficiency disorder (IDD) is not a common problem in the U.S., it is on the rise in
the U.S. as well. The October, 1998 issue of the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and
Metabolism reported that over the last 20 years, the percentage of Americans with low intake
of iodine has more than quadrupled. the researchers indicated that this trend may necessitate
concerted efforts to increase iodine levels in people at risk of deficiency. Earlier in this century,
iodized salt almost wiped out iodine deficiency in the U.S. The first National Health and
Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES I), which took place between 1971 - 1974, found that
just 2.6% of US citizens had iodine deficiency. The followup NHANES III survey, conducted
between 1988 - 1994, found that 11.7% are iodine deficient. Of particular concern is the fact that
the percentage of iodine-deficient pregnant women has increased from 1% in 1974 to 7% in
1994. Maternal iodine deficiency is particularly dangerous to a developing fetus.'' The researchers
do not have a cause for the drop in levels, though it is suspected that reduced salt in the diet, plus
a reduction in the use of iodine as a food ingredient, may be responsible.
For more information:
- International Council for the Control
of Iodine Deficiency Disorders
- World Health Organization
Sets Out to Eliminate Iodine Deficiency Disorder
- UNICEF's Global
Campaign Against Iodine Deficiency Disorders
- UNICEF Report: State of the World's
Children / 1998 -- Spotlight: Iodine
Resources:
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