Iodine deficiency

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Iodine Deficiency

November 13 , 2006

Iodine Deficiency

According International Council for the Control of Iodine Deficiency Dis , Iodine is one of the chemical elements existing in nature in various forms such as iodide (I- , iodate (IO3- ) and elemental iodine (I2 . Iodine is found in form of salts in sea water in fairly constant amounts , but is not distributed evenly in land water or fresh water Iodine is present as an important constituent in the chemical structure of thyroid hormones . The butterfly shaped thyroid glands present in

br frontal part of the neck produce two hormones namely Thyroxine (T4 ) and Triiodothyronine (T3 . These thyroid hormones are carried to their target organs namely liver , kidneys , muscles , heart and developing brain through the medium of blood . The thyroid hormones play a key role in the manufacture of proteins influencing various chemical reactions (2005

According to the World Health Organization , iodine is a micronutrient and its deficiency was termed as Iodine Deficiency Diss (IDD ) in the year 1983 to broadly focus on the ill-effects of iodine deficiency such as goitre and cretinism . Cretinism is a condition of severe brain damage ' leading to mental impairment in normal children in iodine deficient areas . The consequences are poor school performance , reduced intellectual ability and impaired work capacity

According to a report issued by National Academy Press (NAP , whereas the Recommended Dietary Allowance (RDA ) of iodine for adult men and women is 150 ?g per day the daily median intake is about 240 ?g to 300 ?g and 190 ?g to 210 ?g for men and women respectively . The Thyroid hormones namely thyroxine (T4 ) and triiodothyronine (T3 ) containing about 65 and 59 of iodine by weight respectively move through the blood circulation get to various binding proteins synthesized by the liver including thyroxine-binding globulin , transthyretin , and albumin . These bound hormones then migrate to the target tissues wherein the thyroxine is deiodinated to metabolically active triiodothyronine . This iodine of T4 then returns to the serum iodine pool and recycles following the iodine cycle or is excreted through urine

Iodine deficiency has severe consequences on the development of brain and it may also be noted that the thyroid hormone is particularly important for myelination of the central nervous system , which is most active in the perinatal period and during fetal and early postnatal development . Numerous population studies have correlated an iodine-deficient diet with increased incidence of mental retardation Cretinism is characterized by gross mental retardation , short stature deaf mutism and spasticity with about one in ten suffering ill-effects of severe deficiency from iodine . Thyroid gland enlargement (goitre ) is one of the earliest clinical symptoms depicting iodine deficiency followed by attainment of nodular form later leading to autonomous nodules or thyroid follicular cancer . In addition iodine deficiency also leads to impaired reproductive outcome , childhood mortality , decreased educability and economic stagnation

According International Council for the Control of Iodine Deficiency Dis , seafood is the best source of iodine and iodine is added to table salt to make it...