Calculation of the daily iodine intake
A little about the purpose of iodine in the life of the body. Iodine is an essential part of thyroid hormones. Entering the body with food and water, iodine is actively captured by the thyroid gland from the blood and is used to form hormones that are involved in the development and regulation of: the psyche and nervous system, thyroid gland, cardiovascular system, gastrointestinal tract, reproductive function, skin and hair, musculoskeletal system. For the formation of a sufficient amount of hormones, a sufficient intake of iodine in the body is also necessary.
World medicine has recognized iodine deficiency as a major threat to human intelligence and development. It is the daily microdose of iodine that provides a person’s ability to know, determines the success of any activity and is the basis for the development of other abilities.
Each area is characterized by a different content of iodine in food and water. Practically throughout Russia, there is an endemic of iodine deficiency of varying severity. Iodine deficiency is most pronounced in mountainous and foothill areas (Northern Caucasus, Altai, Siberian Plateau, Far East). This is not the situation all over the world. The average daily intake of iodine in different countries of the world is shown in Table 1.
| Country (literary source) | Average daily iodine intake, µg/person/day | Range of average daily iodine intake, µg/person/day |
|---|---|---|
| Australia (Eastman, 1993) | 200 | |
| Bulgaria (Gutekunst et al, 1992) | 20-60 | |
| Germany (Pfaff et al., 1995) | 76 | 55-100 |
| Denmark (Lamberg et al, 1993) | 300-350 | 300-687 |
| Spain (Muros ct al, 1992) | 286,4-11344 | |
| Canada (Dussault, 1993) | 1000 | 60% — salt; 25% — milk products |
| China (Hou et al, 1997) | 166 | 139-208 |
| Korea (Kim et al, 1998) (Moon et al, 1999) | 61-4086 1295-2744 (lactating women) | |
| Great Britain (Lazazus, 1993) (Nelson et al, 1985), (Lee et al, 1994) | 225 173 166 | Men in summer – 195, in winter – 306 Women in summer 126, in winter – 236 140-1000 |
| Poland (Gembick, 1993) | 125-250 | |
| Russia (МУ 2.3.7.1064.01.2001) | 40-80 | |
| USA (Allegrini et al, 1983) (Pino et al, 1993) | 554 | 310-778 1 70-700 |
Based on the data presented, it can be seen that the inhabitants of Russia need an additional source of iodine.
Norms of iodine consumption. The daily requirement for iodine depends on age and physiological state. The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends the following daily doses of iodine:
| Groups of people | Iodine, mcg/day |
| Children up to a year |  50 |
| Young children (2 to 6 years old) | 90 |
| Children from 7 to 12 years old | 120 |
| Young people (aged 12 and over) and adults |  150 |
| Pregnant women and during breastfeeding | 200 |
| elderly people | 100 |
On average, iodine consumption in Russia is 40-80 mcg per day, with the recommended rate of 150 mcg per day, that is, 2-3 times lower than physiological needs. And if the recommended requirement for iodine during pregnancy is 200 micrograms per day, then it turns out that pregnant women in Russia receive 2.5-5 times less iodine than they need. Thus, first of all, we need to take care of solving this problem for children, young people and, of course, pregnant women, that is, those on whom the intellectual and creative potential of the nation directly depends.
Everything is good in upgrade! It must be remembered that the use of iodine should be dosed. Excessive intake of iodine in the body, hundreds and thousands of times higher than the recommended physiological norms, as well as iodine deficiency, can lead to the development of thyroid diseases. In a lifetime, a person consumes only 3-5 grams of iodine. This is about one teaspoon of this substance.
How to deal with iodine deficiency. There are three options for iodine prophylaxis: mass, group and individual. The most effective is mass iodine prophylaxis, which consists in adding iodine salts to the most common food products (salt, bread, water). To implement this option, support at the legislative level is needed. But over the past few decades, unfortunately, programs for iodine prophylaxis have been practically curtailed. Therefore, Russalt wants to inform the population of Russia about how to properly and effectively solve the problem.
As part of individual prevention, each person should choose for himself an additional source of iodine. The most versatile is iodized salt.
Why salt? Because:
— almost everyone uses it;
is a cheap product that is available to everyone;
— salt is consumed in small quantities, so more iodine can be added to it than to other products;
Salt fortified with iodine is a safe food product.
Iodized salt is not a medicine that a doctor should prescribe. It does not contain pharmacological doses of iodine and is a common food product that is rich in iodine – such as seaweed.
Iodized salt is suitable for long-term storage, cooking and canning: iodine does not evaporate from it in large quantities, does not volatilize under the influence of temperature and does not change the taste or color of products. This is due to the new salt iodization standard, potassium iodate, a compound much more stable than iodide.
Iodine is necessary for a person throughout life. As we have already found out, the daily intake of iodine for an adult is 150 mcg. The content of iodine in iodized salt produced by Russalt is 40.0±15 µg per gram of salt. With a maximum allowable salt intake of 10 grams, a person can get up to 400 micrograms of iodine per day. With the recommended salt intake of 5-6 grams – up to 200 mcg per day.
Thus, the use of iodized salt is an effective method of combating iodine deficiency. It is enough just to replace ordinary salt with iodized salt, and the population of Russia will be able to prevent the development of thyroid diseases, maintain health and overcome the decline in intelligence.