Iodine intake from food, water and salt and its implication on goiter- the endemicity-A study of Bihar

An epidemiological study for goiter and other nutritional deficiencies was conducted in
Vaishali and Gaya district of Bihar using an interview scheduleof 601 schoolchildren to establish the
goiter endemic and non-endemic area.A comprehensive study of 60 school children, thirty from
Vaishali and Gaya each was carried out.Cooked food and water sample of each child in the summer
and winter season was collected using duplicate dietary sampling technique.Total iodine intake in
goiter endemic area and the non-endemic area was 65.18±21.2 µg/d and 110.93 ±37.54µg/d
respectively.The mean iodine content from food and water was 58.87±30.11 µg/d and 6.31±2.61 µ g/d
respectively in the endemic area while in non-endemic area the figure was 101.19± 47.30 µ g/d and
9.74± 6.88 µ g/d respectively.Majoritywere using iodized salt but most of the salt samples had less than
15 ppm iodine.Therefore despite implementation of universal salt iodization programme the IDD is still
a major public health problem which should be addressed to mitigate the problem of hidden hunger to
achieve sustainable development goals.