Maintenance of iodine intake

Dietary iodine status is routinely assessed by measuring urinary iodine excretion (UI). In most European countries iodine intake is maintained at WHO recommended levels by iodisation of table salt [1]. Exceptions to this practice include Ireland and the UK where only 5% (approximately) of table salt sold is iodine supplemented. However despite the finding of relatively low median UI values in study populations in both Ireland and the UK [2-4] there is little evidence of an increased prevalence of hypothyroidism, overt or subclinical, of non autoimmune pathogenesis [5-8]. In this communication studies on iodine status in the Irish population over the years 1988-2007 are reviewed, as are inve…