Soil, wheat, cabbage and drinking water iodine in relation to human iodine status and iodine deficiency disorders in Xinjiang Province, China

Iodine is an essential trace element for humans and animals. A lack in the diet can lead to iodine deficiency disorders (IDD) the most common manifestation being goitre, an enlargement of the thyroid gland in the neck. Infants born to severely Ideficient mothers may suffer cretinism and I-deficiency is the world's most common cause of preventable mental retardation. In many countries this problem has been tackled successfully using medical interventions such as the iodination of table salt. Xinjiang Province in northwest China is a remote desert region where goitre and cretinism have been reported for many years. People in this region do not like the taste of iodised salt and prefer to use local rock-salt with very low concentrations of iodine. As an alternative treatment, previous investigators added potassium-iodate to irrigation waters in an attempt to increase the I-concentrations of crops and animals in the food supply and the I-status of the population. Initial successes were reported but the long-term effectiveness of the method had not been tested. The present study aims to assess environmental controls on iodine uptake into the food chain and in Xinjiang had the opportunity to study three contrasting areas