This post was inspired by a paper by Kristien Hynes and colleagues in 2018.
In the 1990s, Tasmania was a mildly iodine deficient country. This led to the implementation of a voluntary bread fortification programme in 2001, where bakers used iodised salt rather than regular salt.
Because of
the marked effects on urinary iodine concentration, the programme later became
mandatory. After 7 years of this mandatory iodine fortification programme,
Tasmania remains iodine sufficient, suggesting that this health initiative is a
stable and sustainable method of investment.
A similar
method of supplementation has been adopted in countries such as Australia and
New Zealand, with similar effects.
Is this an
approach other mild-to-moderately iodine deficient nations, such as the UK,
could adopt?
This paper is from 2018, and so we look forward to seeing future data regarding Tasmania’s iodine progress.
Text written by Callum Wood (January 2020)