Prevalence of Goitre and Iodine Intake in Kanpur

Iodine is an essential element in the chemical structure of thyroid hormones. The human body requires around 150 g of iodine everyday, which works out to be a teaspoonful (5gm) over a life span of 70 years. Iodine deficiency is the most common cause of brain damage. The magnitude of IDD in India includes 167 million people at risk and goitre is being considered as important public health problem. Therefore, a study was conducted to assess prevalence of goitre and iodine intake in 3 areas of Kanpur viz. urban, rural and slum areas. There was no visible or palpable goitre was found in the studied population. Results of the survey revealed that 92.0 per cent of the urban respondents were consuming branded packaged salt while 18.0 per cent of the rural and 4 per cent of the slum population were consuming crystalline. In urban area, salt consumption per person per day ranged from 8.6 to 9.9 gm. In slums, per capita salt consumption was 9.9 to 11.0 gm. per day. On an average, daily salt consumption was found to be 9.9  0.87. gm Iodine content in salt samples ranged between 15.9 ppm to 31.7 ppm. Iodine intake per person per day was found 247.7 g. The study concludes that the prevalence of goitre was nil among studied population. Salt consumption was found to be higher in rural and slum areas and iodine intake was found to be more than the recommended value.