Urinary Iodine: Biomarker for Population Iodine Nutrition

Abstract

Many reports or manuals had focused on the implementation of iodine deficiency disorder (IDD) elimination programme from the point of view of the programme managers. In this chapter, we will focus on the importance of urinary iodine testing, its related diagnosis and further biomarker testing suggested for further diagnosis related to thyroid health. This chapter will be relevant for the respondents to the monitoring programme, particularly the 8–10-year-old schoolchildren and pregnant women, i.e., the vulnerable targeted groups from either the iodine-deficient areas or the Universal Salt Iodization (USI) gazetted areas. USI has been proposed by the World Health Organization (WHO) as the most cost-effective programme to eliminate IDD, and it is also a way to increase the intelligent quotient (IQ) of the world population for the future. This chapter had been laid out so that the readers will know briefly the rationale behind the testing of urinary iodine among schoolchildren and pregnant women under the implementation of the USI programmes in their countries and their benefits, especially the utilisation of urinary iodine as the biomarker to por-tray the population iodine status. Diagnosis including iodine-induced thyroid diseases and further biomarkers measurement besides urinary iodine is also discussed briefly.