Re-emergence of iodine deficiency in Australia

Iodine is an essential nutrient for human growth and development. The thyroid gland is dependent upon iodine for production of thyroid hormone. It is a common perception that iodine deficiency is not a major public health concern in mainland Australia, with sporadic studies carried out about a decade ago showing average urinary iodine excretion levels of around 200 mug/day. Recent evidence, however, has shown that the consumption of iodine is declining in Australia. A similar situation has occurred in the USA. The present study was designed to evaluate the urinary iodine excretion (UIE), as the indicator of iodine nutrition, in sample,, obtained from various demographic groups in the Sydney metropolitian area, namely: schoolchildren, healthy adult volunteers, pregnant women and patients with diabetes. Urinary iodine in spot urine sample was measured in a Technicon II autoanalyser using an in-house, semiautomated method. The results in this communication show that all four study groups had the median UTE below 100 mug/L, the criteria set by the World Health Organization for iodine repletion, and confirm what has been described previously, that iodine deficiency has reemerged in Sydney, Australia. One of the major causes of the reduced iodine intake is the reduction of iodine in milk since the dairy industry replaced iodine-rich cleaning solutions with other sanitisers. Secondly, less than 10% of the population are currently using iodised salt. A national survey into the iodine nutrition status in Australia is urgently required as part of the establishment of a systematic surveillance and legislation is required to iodise all edible salt.