Interesting piece on iodine for you today – this is an indication of how many people are actually iodine deficient, not just pregnant women. I am finding it a lot via the iodine loading test, which I do primarily to check for the cause of conversion problems in the thyroid. It’s amazing how often it is pretty low. That rather stuns me as I was never taught to check iodine really; it is very much assumed in the UK that we all have enough. Not what I am finding though, so I thought I would share this for you in case.
Low iodine in the population is a serious problem for women who are pregnant or thinking of getting pregnant. Adequate levels of iodine are crucial for foetal neuro development and mild iodine deficiency has been linked with developmental impairments. A new study published in the British Journal of Nutrition has revealed that most women are not only oblivious to their requirements but are not meeting current iodine recommendations for pregnancy.
Daily iodine intake is recommended by WHO to be 250µg/d for pregnancy (150µg/d for the general population) and the team of researchers from the University of Glasgow found that almost three quarters of women surveyed were not reaching this target even when taking supplementation into account. Over half of the women were unable to identify any iodine-rich foods and a majority falsely believed that dark green vegetables and table salt (which is not fortified in the UK) were iodine rich foods. An alarming 84% of women were unaware that iodine from the diet is important for the healthy development of their unborn baby.
Reference:
Combet E et al. Iodine and pregnancy: Awareness and intake. 2015. British Journal of Nutrition. First view article DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S0007114515001464 Source Nutri E news June 15