How does iodine deficiency cause goiter

Home » Iodine Deficiency. Iodine is an element that is needed for the production of thyroid hormone. The body does not make iodine, so it is an essential part of your diet. Iodine is found in various foods see Table 1. If you do not have enough iodine in your body, you cannot make enough thyroid hormone. Thus, iodine deficiency can lead to enlargement of the thyroid goiter — see Goiter brochure , hypothyroidism see Hypothyroidism brochure and to intellectual disabilities in infants and children whose mothers were iodine deficient during pregnancy.

However, many other parts of the world do not have enough iodine available through their diet and iodine deficiency continues to be an important public health problem globally. The thyroid gland is a butterfly-shaped endocrine gland that is normally located in the lower front of the neck. Thyroid hormone helps the body use energy, stay warm and keep the brain, heart, muscles, and other organs working as they should.

Iodine deficiency is diagnosed across populations and not specifically in individuals. Since iodine is released from the body through the urine, the best way to determine iodine deficiency across a large population is to measure the amounts of iodine in urine samples. In the United States, iodine status has remained generally adequate in since the s although studies have shown that urinary iodine levels dropped by about half between the early s and the early s, and most recently mild iodine deficiency has re-emerged in pregnant women.

Iodine deficiency remains a major issue in other parts of the world, including parts of Europe, Africa and Asia. Iodine is present naturally in soil and seawater. The availability of iodine in foods differs in various regions of the world. Individuals in the United States can maintain adequate iodine in their diet by using iodized table salt, by eating foods high in iodine, particularly dairy products, seafood, meat, some breads, and eggs, and by taking a multivitamin containing iodine see below.

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Where does it come from Iodine is a naturally occurring chemical element, like oxygen and iron. Why do we need Iodine? Iodine Nutrition What is Iodine and where does it come from? Why do we need iodine? Is iodine deficiency common? Variations in population iodine intake do not affect risk for Graves' disease or thyroid cancer, but correction of iodine deficiency might shift thyroid cancer subtypes toward less malignant forms.

Thus, optimisation of population iodine intake is an important component of preventive health care to reduce the prevalence of thyroid disorders. Abstract Iodine deficiency early in life impairs cognition and growth, but iodine status is also a key determinant of thyroid disorders in adults.