Washington:
Even a mild iodine deficiency can affect children's intelligence -- though this could easily be solved with diet, says a new study.
An international team, led by Otago University, has carried out the study and found that even a mild iodine deficiency may prevent children from reaching their full intellectual potential, the 'American Journal of Clinical Nutrition' reported.
Lead researcher Dr Sheila Skeaff said, while moderate to severe deficiency of this trace element has well known and sometimes disastrous effects on children's brain development, it had previously been thought that being only mildly iodine deficient had no significant cognitive consequences.
"Our findings challenge this assumption. They also show that the new era of mandatory fortification of most bread with iodised salt is a good move, which may reap even greater benefits than initially thought," she said.
In their study, they undertook a 28-week-long trial involving 184 Dunedin children aged between 10 and 13. The kids, who were found to be mildly iodine deficient at the outset, were randomly assigned to groups that either received daily iodine tablets or a placebo.
At the beginning and end of the trial, both groups underwent cognitive testing using four subtests from WISC-IV, which is a standard intelligence test used for children.