Governments at various levels are being urged to step up efforts
to promote the consumption of iodine-enriched salt to combat iodine
deficiencies in people.
Chen Jixiang, secretary-general of the China Endemic Diseases
Society, made the comments on Saturday to promote Iodine Deficiency
Prevention Day, which falls today.
According to statistics from the Ministry of Health, nine
provinces and regions on the Chinese mainland did not meet targets
for reducing iodine deficiencies by the end of last year, most of
which are located in the less developed western regions including
Qinghai and Yunnan provinces and the Tibet Autonomous Region.
Surprisingly, Guangdong Province is also one of the nine.
People with iodine deficiencies are prone to suffer goitre, a
swelling of the neck resulting from enlargement of the thyroid
gland, which can also lead to learning disabilities.
Iodine deficiencies can also cause miscarriages in pregnant
women.
"The cause of iodine deficiency is clear and easy to tackle,"
Chen said. "Consumption of iodized salt is the most effective way
to address it."
To meet the targets, he explained, at least 90 percent of the
families in the regions need to consume qualified iodine-fortified
salt, and the goitre rate among children aged between 8 and 10
should be below 10 percent.
According to the ministry, China aims to cut the problem of
iodine deficiency in 95 percent of its counties. However, only 87
percent of the counties monitored had met the targets for the
consumption of qualified iodized salt by the end of last year.
Consumption of salt not fortified with iodine may be partly to
blame for iodine deficiencies in people in Guangdong.
Only 76 percent of the families in Guangdong were using
qualified iodine-fortified salt last year, Chen said.
The median urinary iodine (MUI) level of tested children aged
between 8 and 10 in the province stood at an average of 140
micrograms-per-litre (ug/L), lower than the 2002 provincial figure
of 184ug/L and the 2005 national average of 246ug/L.
About 12.5 percent of the children aged between 8 and 10 in the
province had their MUI below 50ug/L, up from 5.9 percent in 2002.
If the MUI is below 100ug/L, a person is considered to be iodine
deficient.
Salt not enriched with iodine, which is cheaper, is increasingly
available in the province, Chen said.
The local government in Guangdong should strengthen its
supervision over the salt market to scrap illegal production and
distribution of poor-quality salt, he added.
(China Daily May 15, 2006)