TITLE:
Salt Consumption Patterns and Iodine Nutrition Status of Pregnant Women in Coastal Region
AUTHORS:
Moh Moh Hlaing, Mya Ohnmar, Sandar Tun, Thidar Khine, Theingi Thwin
KEYWORDS:
Salt Consumption, Iodine Nutrition, Pregnant Women
JOURNAL NAME:
Food and Nutrition Sciences,
Vol.12 No.1,
January
19,
2021
ABSTRACT: Background: Maternal Iodine Deficiency Disorder can
result in inevitable cretinism as well as miscarriages, stillbirth and low
birth-weight babies. Objective: There is a need to find out contributing factors towards
urinary iodine concentrations of pregnant women. Methods: Therefore, the
cross-sectional, descriptive study was conducted to assess the patterns of salt utilization and iodine status of
pregnant women living in coastal areas of Mon State in January and May, 2013.
Result: A total of 144 pregnant women from Pa-Nga village and Kalokepi village in Thanbyuzayat township
were asked by using structured questionnaires including age, parity,
socioeconomic status and patterns of salt and iodine-rich foods (seaweed, fish,
prawn) consumption. Casual urine samples were collected from each pregnant
woman and urinary iodine concentrations were measured. Three samples each of
the iodized salt and non-iodized salt from local markets were collected for
determination of iodine content by the iodometric titration method. Only 83.3%
of the study population consumed iodized salt and the remaining (16.7%) consumed non-iodized salt. The
median urinary iodine concentration of the study population was 105 μg/L. The
mean urinary iodine level of pregnant women who consumed iodized salt and that
of pregnant women who consumed non-iodizes salt were 110.47 ± 67.34 μg/L and
95.83 ± 70.13 μg/L (P = 0.336). Iodine content of the iodized salt and
non-iodized salt was 20.6 ± 9.2 ppm and 5.1 ±
1.2 ppm respectively. In conclusion, the median iodine level of pregnant women was lower
than that of the optimal iodine nutrition for pregnant women, i.e., 150 - 250 μg/L and the mean iodine content of salt samples was lower than
the permissible level of iodine in iodized salt, i.e., 30 - 40 ppm. Conclusion: Our findings indicate that iodine
nutritional status of pregnant women in this area is insufficient and salt iodization needs to
be monitored for the optimal iodine content in iodized salt.