Malnutrition iodine

National Iodine Deficiency Disorders Control Program Protein energy malnutrition United Nations Childrens Fund World Health Organization... 

The information which we have obtained from the study of thyroid function in our undernourished patients is not sufficient to allow a reliable opinion as to the status of this gland in malnutrition. It was not until recently that such methods as the determination of protein-bound iodine... 

A slight decrease in protein-bound iodine (Starr et al., 1950), a normal level (Werner et al, 1949 Keating et al., 1950), and slightly decreased radioactive iodine uptake (Means, 1951) have recently been reported in sporadic cases of malnutrition. 

This report has briefly summarized what we now know about thyroid hormone transport to the central nervous system. The data are still sketchy and much remains to be done. Obviously the brain is a complex organ and major differences in thyroid hormone transport and metabolism are to be expected in its constituent parts, so study of different brain regions as well as different cell types is required. We also need to distinguish between findings in the mature brain and those during fetal and postnatal development. Thyroid hormones play a very different role in these stages of the organism, and possible variations in hormone delivery to cells may contribute to these differences. Finally, in the malnutrition that often accompanies iodine deficiency, we need to ask whether PA synthesis in the choroid plexus is compromised, as it is in the liver. If so, important effects in thyroid hormone delivery to the brain may be expected. 

This is a study of the long-term effects of administration of Iodized oil in two Andean rural communities Tocachi and La Esperanza. This program of prophylaxis was started in March 1966 ( ) At that time these two neighboring villages were similar in terms of isolation, ethnic composition, degree of iodine deficiency, and socioeconomic conditions (protein-calorie malnutrition, annual income per capita, cultural deprivation, etc.) They presented similar prevalences of iodine deficiency disorders. 

When we wrote the "Comments and Conclusions" section of our previous paper "Long-term effects of correction of iodine deficiency on psychomotor and intellectual development" (8), we presented the results obtained by the use of iodized oil, and pointed out that while iodine deficiency had been corrected, children continued to suffer the consequences of severe malnutrition and an environment which is a culturally limited, non-stimulating milieu a complex of social ills. 

When the preliminary study was performed by Garcia et al. 9 in Las Hurdes we could not exclude that factors other than iodine deficiency had caused the low scores, as the tests were performed on schoolchildren whose data were comparable to those of Fig 1. Although their poor somatic development might have been a consequence of the persistently low plasma T4 levels and, therefore, of the iodine deficiency, it might also have been related to general malnutrition" . The same might be true for their mental and psychomotor development 9. However, the later controlled study performed... 

A good average diet should supply these without difficulty but some mineral constituents are inefficiently absorbed. The minerals which are nutritionally of most importance because their intake may be less than the requirements are calcium, iron, iodine and fluorine. However, defective absorption, resulting from general malnutrition or a variety of other causes, may be responsible for secondary deficiences of substances present in the diet in adequate amounts. 

In September 1990, the World Summit for Children held at the United Nations in New York, was attended by 71 Heads of State and 80 other government representatives. The World Summit signed a Declaration and approved a Plan of Action which included the elimination of IDD as a public health problem by the year 2000. A highly successful follow up Conference "Ending Hidden Hunger" - A policy conference on micronutrient malnutrition including iodine deficiency, was held in Montreal (October 1991) and attended by representatives of 60 countries nominated by Heads of State in response to invitations from the Director General of WHO and the Executive Director of UNICEF. 

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