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‘Iodine deficiency leads to low IQ'

NEW DELHI: The intelligence quotient score of school-age children living in an iodine-deficient environment is nearly 13 IQ points less than those living in iodine-sufficient environments. Iodine Deficiency Disorder results in poor scholastic performance, impaired mental function, retarded physical development, learning disability and lack of energy which only add to a retarded social and economical growth and poor human resource development, claim experts.

A review of recent major studies related to iodine nutrition of pregnant women in India was conducted by a team of researchers from the Indian Coalition for Control of Iodine Deficiency Disorders and the All-India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi. The review revealed a significant iodine deficiency in pregnant women in India leading to births of children with low IQ.  

As part of the review undertaken to determine iodine intake in pregnant women, nine cross-sectional studies conducted in different parts of India -- Rajasthan, West Bengal, Delhi, Haryana, Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh and Maharashtra -- from 1993 to 2008 were reviewed. Five of these nine studies were community-based, while four studies were hospital-based. Three of the nine studies were done in rural areas and six in urban/urban slum areas.

The review concluded that the percentage of pregnant women consuming adequately iodised salt ranged from 59.5 per cent to 95 per cent. “Fifty p.c. of the children born every year in India are unprotected against iodine deficiency disorders including brain damage and have severely depleted levels of productivity. The irreversible situation of brain damage in children could be prevented well in advance only by iodising the salt taken by pregnant mothers as 90 per cent of human brain development occurs between third month of pregnancy to third year of life,'' said Prof. Chandrakant S. Pandav, regional coordinator for South Asia, International Council for Control of Iodine Deficiency Disorders.

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