Most teenage girls in Britain are not drinking enough milk to maintain their iodine levels – putting their future families at risk, researchers warned today.
The findings, reported in The Lancet, led experts to call for salt and other foods to be “iodised” and for pregnant women to be offered iodine pills.
Researchers say the biggest problem is in Belfast, Northern Ireland, where 85 per cent of girls aged 14 and 15 were found to be iodine deficient.
Iodine deficiency can lead to babies developing thyroid problems in the womb.
For the last 60 years Britons have gained most of their iodine from milk, which has had high levels of the chemical as a result of modern farming methods.
Researcher Dr Mark Vanderpump, of the Royal Free Hampstead NHS Trust, London, studied teenage girls in nine British cities – finding the least problems in Scottish cities.
The researchers state: “Milk consumption has fallen in the UK and as milk iodine levels have remained unchanged, this would suggest that it is the reduced amount of milk being drunk that is responsible for the decline in iodine status.”
Writing in the journal Dr Elizabeth Pearce, of Boston University, Massachusetts, USA, says: “Time is of the essence, because children across the UK are currently being born unprotected from the effects of iodine deficiency.
“Immediate steps should be taken to protect the most vulnerable members of the population. Women who are pregnant, lactating, or planning a pregnancy should be advised to take a daily vitamin containing iodine in the form of potassium iodide.”
Leave a Reply