In Vivo Assessment About the Effects of a Diet Containing Iodine Enriched Foodstuffs: A Pilot Study

ABSTRACT Iodine deficiency (ID) represents one of the major worldwide health problems. ID is the result of insufficient dietary iodine intake. The main strategy for the correction of ID is the fortification of table salt with iodide/iodine. The aim of this pilot study was to evaluate the effectiveness of a diet containing iodized foods enriched during industry processing with protected iodized salt (Presal). Twenty‐one 21 healthy volunteers added to their alimentary habits a basket of iodine‐enriched foodstuffs and iodine intake was assessed by measuring the urinary iodine excretion (UIE). The median UIE in the two baseline urine samples were 116 and 112 (μg/L), respectively, and increased to 249 and 246 (μg/L). Seven days after the discontinuation of iodized foods intake, UIE was 116 μg/L. In our voluntary subjects the addition to the daily alimentary habits of a basket of foodstuffs added with “stable” iodized salt (Presal) for 2 weeks determines a significant increase in urinary iodine excretion. This study provides an opportunity to increase iodine intake by introducing iodine fortification in industrial food processing. Stable iodized salt (Presal) represents a good way to introduce iodine with the normal diet without increasing the normal consumption of salt.