Babies at risk

Iodine deficiency

FORTY per cent of Australian women who are pregnant or trying to conceive are missing out on a nutrient vital for babies’ brain development.

Research has found health interventions introduced to boost iodine intake among women has failed with many diets still lacking the mineral.

And many women who take a pregnancy multivitamin in a bid to compensate are still falling to meet the guidelines.

The Westmead Hospital research has found two in five women are lacking iodine.

In 2009 the Federal Government introduced laws that mandated for iodine to be added to bread in a bid to address the deficiency.

And while iodine can be added to salt, the salt in junk food rarely contains iodine.

Most salt sold in Australia is also not iodised despite a recommendation from the World Health Organisation.

Westmead Hospital endocrinologist and researcher Jenny Gunton said iodine deficiency was the most common preventable cause of “mental delays” worldwide.

“On average we are better than we were in 1999 but the bad news is a little over 40 per cent of women are still iodine deficient,” Dr Gunton said.

“Women really should be taking a pregnancy multivitamin before they even start trying to conceive.”

The study found the median iodine level was 117ug/L — well below the National Health and Medical Research Council’s recommendation for pregnant and lactating women of 250ug/L.

The research, published in the Asia Pacific Journal of Clinical Nutrition, shows that while almost half of women of “child-bearing age” take a multivitamin the majority still did not have healthy levels of iodine.

The best food-based iodine sources include seafood, seaweed, iodised salt and bread.