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Background: Salt iodization is the main strategy for reducing iodine deficiency disorders worldwide. Characteristics of families not using iodized salt need to be known to expand coverage. Objective: The objective was to determine whether families who do not use iodized salt have a higher prevalence of child malnutrition and mortality and to identify factors associated with not using iodized salt. Design: Use of adequately iodized salt ([greater than or equal to] 30 ppm), measured by rapid test kits, was assessed between January 1999 and September 2003 in 145 522 and 445 546 families in urban slums and rural areas, respectively, in Indonesia. Results: Adequately iodized salt was used by 66.6% and 67.2% of families from urban slums and rural areas, respectively. Among families who used adequately iodized salt, mortality in neonates, infants, and children aged Conclusion: In Indonesia, nonuse of adequately iodized salt is associated with a higher prevalence of child malnutrition and mortality in neonates, infants, and children aged KEY WORDS Children, iodized salt, mortality, Indonesia

Background: In programs to control iodine deficiency disorders (1DD), sustainability is a major concern. IDD has recently recurred in countries where salt iodization programs have lapsed. Objective: The objective of the study was to describe the evolution of thyroid dysfunction after the discontinuation of salt iodization in a cohort of children in an area of severe endemic goiter. Design: Moroccan children (aged 6-16 y, n = 159) with severe IDD received iodized salt (IS) for 1 y. Because of practical and financial constraints, including a lack of infrastructure and electricity at the production site, salt iodization abruptly ceased. The children were followed for another 14 mo, and concentrations of urinary iodine, thyrotropin, total thyroxine, and thyroglobulin and thyroid volume were measured. Results: Before iodization, median urinary iodine was 18 [micro]g/L, 88% of children had elevated serum thyroglobulin concentrations, and 72% were goitrous. One year after the introduction of IS, median urinary iodine and thyroglobulin concentrations had normalized, mean thyroid volume had decreased by 34%, and median thyrotropin and mean total thyroxine concentrations were improved. Five months after the discontinuation of salt iodization, median urinary iodine had fallen to 20 [micro]g/L. Fourteen months after the discontinuation of salt iodization, the rate of goiter was again similar to the rate before salt iodization; median thyrotropin and thyroglobulin concentrations were sharply higher than before the introduction of IS (P < 0.001); and the prevalence of hypothyroidism was 10%, compared with 3% before the introduction of IS (P < 0.001). Conclusions: In IDD-affected areas, cessation of salt iodization is associated with a rapid deterioration of thyroid function in school-age children. These findings underline the importance of sustainability in IDD control and the vulnerability of children to even short-term lapses in IS programs. KEY WORDS Iodine, deficiency, fortification, salt, goiter, thyroid, children

Less than one-tenth teaspoon per year of this essential substance makes the difference between growing up healthy or being goitrous and retarded. Editor's Note: Last issue in Woods Hutchinson's classic [...]

Although the cure is known, iodine deficiency disorders continue to threaten people around the globe, many of them children. Present generations of Americans have been spared the misery of the [...]

Eating less salt can cut cardiovascular disease risk by a quarter and fatal heart disease by a fifth, a study of more than 3,000 people has shown. In the US [...]

Q. Does it make a difference whether I use iodized or uniodized salt? A. It could. Iodine is an essential mineral required by the body for the production of thyroid [...]

The human body needs tiny amounts of the mineral iodine throughout life to prevent the development of goiter and other thyroid conditions and to prevent low IQs and more severe [...]

Iodine is necessary for the thyroid gland to function normally. Studies have reported that the iodine intakes of vegans in several countries are lower than those of non-vegetarians. Staples of [...]

Iodine deficiency remains a problem in China as economic reforms in the mid-1980s decentralized production, resulting in a black market for cheap, noniodized salt.--Katie Lewis, Beijing, [...]

VIENTIANE, Laos -- Soudsadi Keothaune was suffering from an iodine deficiency when she gave birth to her first daughter, Naly, 14 years ago. Iodine is an essential mineral in the [...]