Iodine Foods Needed to Prevent Iodine Deficiency

Iodized Salt May Not Provide Iodine Content to Reduce Deficiency

Mar 15, 2009

Fewer iodine containing foods are eaten with iodized salt shown to be unreliable. It is important to know what iodine rich foods may prevent iodine deficiency.

The United States is in danger of joining other countries with people consuming too few iodine foods and having inadequate iodine levels. The United States may be facing increases in iodine deficiency disorders.

The major source of iodine in the United States is from iodized salt. However, 53 percent of the United States iodized salt may not contain the recommended level, according to the study by Purnendu K. Dasgupta et al, “Iodine Nutrition: Iodine Content of Iodized Salt in the United States”, published in the 2008 Environmental Science & Technology journal, volume 42, issue 4.

Reproductive women and infants are the most vulnerable to iodine deficiency. It is crucial that everyone is aware of the amount of iodine needed for health and wellbeing, and eat iodine foods. If the diet does not contain enough iodine foods, an iodine supplement, especially in pregnant and lactating women, is essential.

What is the Recommended Iodine Intake?

According to their 2007 publication “Assessment of Iodine Deficiency Disorders and Monitoring their Elimination”, the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), the International Council for the Control of Iodine Deficiency Disorders (ICCIDD) and the World Health Organisation (WHO) recommend the following daily iodine intake:

Iodine Rich Foods

Soil iodine content is generally very low. The oceans are the main source of iodine; hence, seaweed is an excellent iodine food source of both inorganic and organic iodine. Dairy was once an iodine rich food source; however, this has changed since the use of chlorine in the milk production sanitisers instead of iodine, and the reduced use of iodine based-additives in livestock feed.

According to the “Iodine” section from the Linus Pauling Institute at Oregon State University, the following foods are iodine rich foods.

Therefore, a meal of 85 grams of cod, and a baked potato filled with navy beans, without any added salt may equate to approximately 191 mcg of iodine; that is fine for an adult but is below the recommended iodine intake for a pregnant and lactating woman. Additionally, variations on these amounts exist because of different soil contents.

The amount of iodine in seaweed is variable. However, according to the 2004 study “Variability of iodine content in common commercially available edible seaweeds” by J. Teas et al, published in the Thyroid journal, nori, the seaweed most commonly used for sushi rolls, contains approximately 16mcg of iodine per gram. Processed kelp granules made from the seaweed Laminaria digitata contained 8165 mcg per gram, in this study.

Iodine Supplement Required in Pregnancy and Lactation

Iodized salt in the United States may be low in iodine; therefore, other iodine foods must be eaten on a regular basis to ward off iodine deficiency. The iodine content of many iodine foods is variable and for that reason, pregnant and lactating women should consider an iodine supplement to increase their iodine intake to the recommended level of 250mcg per day.

Patrick, L. (2008). Iodine: deficiency and therapeutic considerations. Altern Med Rev, 13(2), 116-127.

Dasgupta, P. K., Liu, Y., & Dyke, J. V. (2008). Iodine nutrition: iodine content of iodized salt in the United States. Environ Sci Technol, 42(4), 1315-1323.

Li, M., Eastman, C. J., Waite, K. V., Ma, G., Zacharin, M. R., Topliss, D. J., et al. (2006). Are Australian children iodine deficient? Results of the Australian National Iodine Nutrition Study. Med J Aust, 184(4), 165-169.

The copyright of the article Iodine Foods Needed to Prevent Iodine Deficiency in Vitamins & Minerals is owned by Melissa Peterson. Permission to republish Iodine Foods Needed to Prevent Iodine Deficiency in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.