1. ¹Department of Women's and Children's Health, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden
2. ²Instituto Mexicano del Seguro Social, Coordinación de Investigación en Salud, México, DF, México
3. ³PATH, Washington, DC, USA

Correspondence: Dr J Monárrez-Espino, Instituto Mexicano del Seguro Social, Coordinación de Investigación en Salud, Centro Médico Nacional Siglo XXI, Unidad de Congresos, Bloque B – 4to piso, Col. Doctores, 06725 México DF, México. E-mail: Joel.Monarrez@kbh.uu.se

Received 1 December 2004; Revised 26 April 2005; Accepted 23 May 2005; Published online 6 July 2005.

Abstract

This paper adds iodine data to the nutritional survey recently published in the Eur J Clin Nutr (2004;58:532–540) to identify growth retardation and micronutrient deficiencies among Tarahumara children from five selected indigenous boarding schools in Mexico. Total goiter rate (TGR) (n=384), urinary iodine concentrations (UI) (n=100), and iodine content of salt were measured. Overall, TGR was 7.0% (grade 1=6.8%, grade 2=0.2%). The median UI of the group was 125 g / l, while the median UI across the schools ranged from 92.0–156.5 g / l, with 32 and 6% of the children having UI between 50–99 g / l and 20–49 g / l, respectively. The iodine content in all the salt packages checked at the schools was above 25 parts per million. Based on TGR and UI, there is a marginal iodine deficiency in this sample of children, probably due to an insufficient iodine intake. These results add to existing evidence that iodine deficiency still constitutes a public health problem in certain populations living in the mountainous regions in Mexico.