Assessment of iodine level in breast milk samples, and in urine of mother and infant: A pilot study in Palestine
Date
2017-09-13
Authors
نعيرات, سندس هاشم
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
An-Najah National University
Abstract
Iodine is an essential trace element, required for biosynthesis of thyroid gland hormones which are directly related to growth and development of human being. Both deficiency and excess of iodine intake can cause thyroid function disorder. Pregnant, lactating women and infant are the most vulnerable group to this disorder.
This research is a pilot study was conducted in Palestine in Jenin district. The main objectives were to determine maternal and infant iodine levels and also to determine the breast-milk iodine concentration.
The study was carried out using ninety purposive urine samples that were collected from three groups: thirty pregnant women, thirty lactating women and thirty infants. The collected samples were analyzed by Sandell–Kolthoff method. This method is a combination of digestion technique and manual spectrophotometric reading. And data was collected using a questioner. Breast milk iodine concentration was investigated, using thirty purposive milk samples that were collected from the same mothers, the milk samples were also analyzed by sandell Kolthoff method.
The main outcomes of the research are: median iodine concentration of pregnant women, lactating women and infant 23.5µg/L, 28.3µg/L, 50.4µg/L respectively. Compare this medians with WHO epidemiologic criteria for assessing iodine nutrition based on median urinary iodine concentrations for different groups, indicates that iodine deficiency was prevalent among pregnant, lactating women and their infant. This deficiency could be explained using the questioner results which revealed that studied women consumption of iodine rich foods were low.
Other important outcome of the research is the median of milk iodine concentration which was 20.8µg/L. When this value is compared with the optimal range that is supposed to meet the infant’s iodine requirement (100–200 µg/L) reveals that, content of breast milk of targeted lactating women don’t meet the infant’s iodine requirement.
The results of the study indicant that, infant’s iodine status in the present study affected by their mother’s iodine status, and it depend on their mother’s breast milk iodine concentration.