ABSTRACT
Objectives: To estimate iodine intake and excretion, to assess their association and to evaluate the compliance of the recommendations in a multicentre cohort of pregnant women in the United Arab Emirates. Methods: A cross-sectional study performed on pregnant women in the United Arab Emirate multicentre cohort of pregnant women Information on iodine intake from diet, salt and supplements was collected through questionnaires. Spot urine samples were analysed for urinary iodine concentration (UIC). Urinary Iodine excretion was measured for 752 pregnant women who were randomly selected using a probability-proportional-to-size sampling methodology. Results: The result shows that more than 51% of the samples were with ioduria below 150 μg/L, the number of samples with adequate iodine content in urine were only 23 % the number of pregnant women with ioduria above the requirement were 17% and the excessive intake was at 7.3%. Conclusions: Provission of adeqate iodine nutrition with massive national Education & communication campaign and promote community awareness of the importance of the use of nutrients rich in ioidne and iodized salt and the hazardous effects of inappropriate or inadequately iodized salt intake targeting women.
ABSTRACT
Objectives: To investigate the effect of fish consumption on iodine and vitamin of Omani School Children. Methods: Omani school children aged 9 and 10 years were recruited from two schools in Muscat Governorate in Oman. The children were randomly divided in to fish and control groups. The fish group received fish menu lunch 4 times a week. The control group did not receive fish or any other dietary supplement. Ethical approval from the Ministry of Health of Oman and parental consent were obtained. The intervention period was sixteen weeks (four months). Results: The children who received fish meal for sixteen weeks had higher levels of urinary iodine and plasma vitamin D compared with the control group (p<0.0001). Conclusions: Regular consumption fish is effective in enhancing iodine and vitamin D status of children.