Iodine Global Network (IGN)

Iodine in the global news

29. March 2013

Senegal faces iodized salt challenge

Senegal produces more salt than any country in west Africa, but salt iodization is inconsistent. ICCIDD GN partner the Micronutrient Initiative is organizing Senegalese salt producers into co-operatives, equipping them with harvesters and salt ...

27. March 2013

Salt iodization loses a champion

Sad news from Egypt. Former chairman of the country's salt association, Engineer Dr. Atif Dardir, died recently. He was an effective champion of upgrading salt industry technology and quality control that has been a foundation of Egypt's campaign to...

26. March 2013

Less than half Vietnam's population can get iodized salt

Seven years ago, 91.9 percent of Vietnamese households had access to iodized salt; today the rate is 46.1 percent, according to a survey conducted by the Central Urology Hospital. The results portray a pendulum-like swing: in 1992 only 6 percent of...

23. March 2013

Salt quality management key to Pakistan's IDD effort

Iodine nutrition experts gathered last week in Islamabad organized by the Nutrition Section of the Planning Commission in collaboration with GAIN and UNICEF. Justus de Jong represented ICCIDD GN and urged practical guidelines for production and storage...

23. March 2013

Iodine at 30 ppm should be India's standard: Tamil Nadu official

While India mandates iodized salt, quality varies, experts agreed at a meeting March 22 in Tuticorin, India. Kumar Jayant, Commissioner of the Tamil Nadu Food Safety and Drug Administration tod delegates at a salt producers meeting organized by...

22. March 2013

Sretta Thavisin receives 2013 Hetzel Award

Pictured (l to r) are Mr. Srettha Thavisin and Dr. Creswell J. Eastman as Dr. Eastman presents Mr. Thavisin with ICCIDD's 2013 Basil Hetzel Award. Thavisin is president and managing director of Sansiri Public Co., Ltd. Hetzel is Asia Pacific Regional...

21. March 2013

Iodized salt can be used in processed foods without sacrificing quality

Responding to food industry concerns that substituting iodized salt for plain salt would alter texture, taste or other consumer-sensitive aspects of processed foods, the Philippine's Food and Nutrition Research Institute (FNRI) has released a study...

15. March 2013

Ethiopia mandates table salt be iodized

The Africa Report stated March 15 that "Ethiopia has passed a law making it mandatory for the iodisation of table salt...." to address the IDD risk facing 35 million Ethiopians. Currently, only 28% have access to iodized salt. While the article...

15. March 2013

Aussie study finds iodizing salt in bread insufficient

Since 2009, Australian bakers have been required to use iodized salt in their bread, a step-wise substitute approach short of a full mandate for use of iodized salt in processed foods. A new study from the University of Adelaide's Robinson Institute ...

14. March 2013

U.S. iodine levels drop; many pregnant women iodine deficient

Thyroid has published a new analysis of NHANES and Vanguard Study data by doctors from the CDC and NIH/National Institute for Child Health and Human Development concluding that iodine intakes of pregnant women from 2005-2009 (129 micrograms/day) is ...

13. March 2013

Philippines mandates iodized salt add more iodine

The Philippines Food and Drug Administration on March 12 ordered salt manufacturers to increase the minimum amount of iodine fortifying iodized salt from its current 20 ppm to 30 ppm. The upper allowable limit remains unchanged at 70 ppm. The 2008...

12. March 2013

Fortifying veggies with iodine can supplement iodized salt

Researchers at the University of Pisa have documented that biofortifying vegetables with iodine provides a mild but significant increase in iodine nutrition status and conclude that "together with the habitual use of iodized salt (biofortified veggies)...

08. March 2013

Nearly 90% of Indian salt is iodized, but half that, inadequately

Iodized salt coverage in India is 89.4%, but 42.2% of the households are using salt with less than 15 ppm iodine. And 10.5% are still without access to iodized salt. The figures were released by the Minister of State for Health and Family Welfare from...

06. March 2013

Noting backsliding on salt iodization Filipino task force reactivated

For many years, the Philippines' National Nutrition Council Region 2 maintained a task force which actively enforced the nation's salt iodization mandate and did public education. Prominent among the interventions was a network of roadway checkpoints,...

02. March 2013

Lancet spotlights Basil Hetzel, fight against IDD

The latest issue of The Lancet features "Basil Hetzel: vanquishing iodine deficiency disorders." It traces ICCIDD co-founder and past chair Dr. Basil Hetzel's first interest in iodine deficiency in Papua New Guinea in 1964 and his "passion" and...

27. February 2013

Chinese monopoly law to curtail online table salt sales

Chinese law confers a monopoly on the sale of food grade salt, reserving specific geographic regions for each salt producer. Apparently, online sales of table salt have had enough market impact that China National Salt Industry Corporation asked Taobao,...

25. February 2013

Use of iodized salt in bread works in Tasmania

In 2009, Australia mandated the use of iodized salt in bread to combat a serious deficiency in population iodine intakes. The action followed a study in Tasmania which led that state to require bakers to use iodized salt beginning in 2001. The results...

12. February 2013

WHO issues new guidelines on sodium intake

Elevated sodium intake has been associated with a number diseases (including hypertension, cardiovascular disease and stroke), and decreasing sodium intake may reduce blood pressure and the risk of these diseases. The objective of this guideline is to...

01. February 2013

February IDD Newsletter online

The latest IDD Newsletter is available. It features Pakistan, Canada, Bangladesh, Kazakhstan, a fresh look at how the Global Burden of Disease is calculated and organizational news of the ICCIDD Global Network.

18. January 2013

ICCIDD, CIDA initiative raises iodine nutrition hopes for Sudan

With financial support from the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA), ICCIDD is conducting training sessions designed to reverse the long slide in iodine nutrition in troubled Sudan. ICCIDD regional coordinator Izzeldin Hussein is conducting...

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