NUTRITIONAL IODINE DEFICIENCIES AND ERADICATION STRATEGIES

The availability of safe and healthy food is one of the inseparable conditions of health protection and promotion. Various investigations on the nutritional and food status made over the last decade in Moldova have highlighted several problems in this area. In the last 10-15 years the incidence of iodine-deficiency diseases (endemic goiter) in Moldova has increased by 8-10 times. A worrying increase in cases of thyroid cancer has been attested. In the context of even moderate iodine deficiency, the intellectual abilities of the population are reduced, which presents a significant threat to the country’s economic and intellectual potential. Food fortification is the most cost-effective and sustainable method. However, the mandatory fortification does not always achieve its goals – the consumption of fortified foods is not the same for all the categories of the population, the physiological needs in micronutrients is different for each category, the content of micronutrients depends on the quality of the package, while the availability of micronutrients depends on the applied technological processes. The present study reflects the causes and the consequences of the occurrence of iodine deficiencies, including the role of goitrigens in foods, as well as the analysis of recommendations on the use of food mixtures fortified with iodine