PMID- 35346362
OWN - NLM
STAT- MEDLINE
DCOM- 20220405
LR  - 20220519
IS  - 2045-4015 (Electronic)
IS  - 2045-4015 (Linking)
VI  - 11
IP  - 1
DP  - 2022 Mar 28
TI  - Results of the national biomonitoring program show persistent iodine deficiency 
      in Israel.
PG  - 18
LID - 10.1186/s13584-022-00526-9 [doi]
LID - 18
AB  - BACKGROUND: Adequate iodine intake is essential for human health, for normal 
      thyroid function, and for attainment of full intellectual potential in children. 
      In light of Israel's lack of a mandatory salt fortification policy, heavy 
      reliance on desalination and low iodine intake from dairy products and seafood, 
      there is concern in Israel that the population is iodine deficient. Indeed, the 
      first Israeli National Iodine Survey in 2016 found a median urinary iodine 
      concentration (UIC) of 83 microg/L among school age children, falling below the WHO's 
      adequacy range of 100-299 microg/L for children. METHODS: In the framework of the 
      National Human Biomonitoring Program in Israel, spot urine samples and 
      questionnaire data were collected from 166 healthy children aged 4-12 years in 
      2020-2021. Urinary iodine concentrations were measured at the Ministry of Health 
      National Biomonitoring Laboratory, using mass spectrometry. An international 
      comparison of median urinary iodine concentrations (UIC) was performed taking 
      into consideration the levels of desalinated water per capita, and fortification 
      policies. RESULTS: The overall median (interquartile range [IQR]) UIC was 
      80.1 microg/L (44.7-130.8 microg/L) indicating that the population's iodine status has 
      not improved in the five years that have passed since inadequacy was first 
      identified. When comparing 13 countries with population size above 150,000, whose 
      desalinated water per capita was at least 1 m(3), Israel and Lebanon were the 
      only countries with median UIC below the WHO adequacy range. CONCLUSIONS: There 
      is an urgent need for mandatory salt fortification in Israel. Based on our 
      international comparison, we conclude that the potential impact of desalination 
      on iodine intake can be compensated for using the implementation of salt 
      fortification policy. This study highlights the critical need for public health 
      surveillance of nutritional and environmental exposures using human 
      biomonitoring, with emphasis on vulnerable populations such as pregnant women and 
      children.
CI  - (c) 2022. The Author(s).
FAU - Barnett-Itzhaki, Zohar
AU  - Barnett-Itzhaki Z
AUID- ORCID: 0000-0001-9891-9397
AD  - Public Health Services, Ministry of Health, 39 Yirmiyahu Street, 9446724, 
      Jerusalem, Israel. zoharba@ruppin.ac.il.
AD  - School of Engineering, Ruppin Research Group in Environmental and Social 
      Sustainability, Ruppin Academic Center, Israel. zoharba@ruppin.ac.il.
FAU - Ehrlich, Daniel
AU  - Ehrlich D
AD  - Public Health Services, Ministry of Health, 39 Yirmiyahu Street, 9446724, 
      Jerusalem, Israel.
FAU - Troen, Aron M
AU  - Troen AM
AD  - Department of Biochemistry, Food Science and Nutrition, The Robert H Smith 
      Faculty of Agriculture, Food and Environment, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, 
      Jerusalem, Israel.
FAU - Rorman, Efrat
AU  - Rorman E
AD  - Public Health Services, Ministry of Health, 39 Yirmiyahu Street, 9446724, 
      Jerusalem, Israel.
AD  - National Public Health Laboratory, Ministry of Health, 69 Ben Zvi Road, 6810416, 
      Tel Aviv, Israel.
FAU - Groismann, Luda
AU  - Groismann L
AD  - Public Health Services, Ministry of Health, 39 Yirmiyahu Street, 9446724, 
      Jerusalem, Israel.
AD  - National Public Health Laboratory, Ministry of Health, 69 Ben Zvi Road, 6810416, 
      Tel Aviv, Israel.
FAU - Blaychfeld-Magnazi, Moran
AU  - Blaychfeld-Magnazi M
AD  - Public Health Services, Ministry of Health, 39 Yirmiyahu Street, 9446724, 
      Jerusalem, Israel.
AD  - School of Public Health, University of Haifa, Haifa, Israel.
FAU - Endevelt, Ronit
AU  - Endevelt R
AD  - Public Health Services, Ministry of Health, 39 Yirmiyahu Street, 9446724, 
      Jerusalem, Israel.
AD  - School of Public Health, University of Haifa, Haifa, Israel.
FAU - Berman, Tamar
AU  - Berman T
AD  - Public Health Services, Ministry of Health, 39 Yirmiyahu Street, 9446724, 
      Jerusalem, Israel.
AD  - Department of Health Promotion, School of Public Health, Sackler Faculty of 
      Medicine, Tel Aviv University, Tel-Aviv, Israel.
LA  - eng
PT  - Journal Article
PT  - Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
DEP - 20220328
PL  - England
TA  - Isr J Health Policy Res
JT  - Israel journal of health policy research
JID - 101584158
RN  - 9679TC07X4 (Iodine)
SB  - IM
MH  - *Biological Monitoring
MH  - Child
MH  - Child, Preschool
MH  - Cross-Sectional Studies
MH  - Female
MH  - Food, Fortified
MH  - Humans
MH  - *Iodine
MH  - Israel/epidemiology
MH  - Pregnancy
PMC - PMC8960077
OTO - NOTNLM
OT  - Desalinated water
OT  - Human biomonitoring
OT  - Iodine
OT  - Iodine-deficiency
OT  - Iodized salt
OT  - Nutrition
COIS- The authors declare that they have no competing interests.
EDAT- 2022/03/30 06:00
MHDA- 2022/04/05 06:00
PMCR- 2022/03/28
CRDT- 2022/03/29 05:40
PHST- 2021/09/14 00:00 [received]
PHST- 2022/03/08 00:00 [accepted]
PHST- 2022/03/29 05:40 [entrez]
PHST- 2022/03/30 06:00 [pubmed]
PHST- 2022/04/05 06:00 [medline]
PHST- 2022/03/28 00:00 [pmc-release]
AID - 10.1186/s13584-022-00526-9 [pii]
AID - 526 [pii]
AID - 10.1186/s13584-022-00526-9 [doi]
PST - epublish
SO  - Isr J Health Policy Res. 2022 Mar 28;11(1):18. doi: 10.1186/s13584-022-00526-9.