Thanks to worldwide salt iodization programs, the proportion of iodine-deficient children and adults is decreasing. But does salt iodization reach everyone? Dr. Michael Zimmerman shows results from the first national survey assessing infant iodine status in a developed country, Switzerland. Infants are a key target group that poses special challenges for the researcher. Measurement of urinary iodine concentration, the standard means of assessing iodine status, is difficult to perform in very young infants and newborns. Zimmerman describes a simple, non-invasive technique developed by his team to collect urine samples from newborns and assess iodine status.
Data from the 2009 Swiss national survey indicate that weaning infants are at high risk of iodine deficiency, as they lack intake of cow’s milk and iodized salt, the main sources of iodine in developed countries. How can we address this deficiency in infants? Zimmerman concludes with several practical strategies for meeting the iodine requirements of infants during the process of weaning.