Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • News & Views
  • Published:

Reproductive endocrinology

Iodine intake in pregnancy—even a little excess is too much

Nature Reviews Endocrinology volume 11, pages 260–261 (2015)Cite this article

Subjects

Several studies have linked maternal iodine deficiency during pregnancy with adverse neurodevelopmental outcomes in offspring. A new study warns that excessive iodine exposure might also be detrimental to maternal thyroid health and recommends a lower limit for maternal iodine intake during pregnancy than that currently advised by the WHO.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Relevant articles

Open Access articles citing this article.

Access options

Buy this article

  • Purchase on Springer Link
  • Instant access to full article PDF
Buy now

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

References

  1. Bath, S. C., Steer, C. D., Golding, J., Emmett, P. & Rayman, M. P. Effect of inadequate iodine status in UK pregnant women on cognitive outcomes in their children: results from the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC). Lancet 382, 331–337 (2013).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  2. Shi, X. et al. Optimal and safe upper limits of iodine intake for early pregnancy in iodine-sufficient regions: a cross-sectional study of 7,190 pregnant women in China. J. Clin. Endocrinol. Metab. http://dx.doi.org/10.1210/jc.2014-3704.

  3. Leung, A. M. & Braverman, L. E. Consequences of excess iodine. Nat. Rev. Endocrinol. 10, 136–142 (2014).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  4. Ma, Z. F. & Skeaff, S. A. Thyroglobulin as a biomarker of iodine deficiency: a review. Thyroid 24, 1195–1209 (2014).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  5. König, F., Andersson, M., Hotz, K., Aeberli, I. & Zimmermann, M. B. Ten repeat collections for urinary iodine from spot samples or 24-hour samples are needed to reliably estimate individual iodine status in women. J. Nutr. 141, 2049–2054 (2011).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. Connelly, K. J. et al. Congenital hypothyroidism caused by excess prenatal maternal iodine ingestion. J. Pediatr. 161, 760–762 (2012).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. Morreale de Escobar, G., Obregón, M. J. & Escobar del Rey, F. Is neuropsychological development related to maternal hypothyroidism or to maternal hypothyroxinemia? J. Clin. Endocrinol. Metab. 85, 3975–3987 (2000).

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  8. WHO, UNICEF & ICCIDD. Assessment of iodine deficiency disorders and monitoring their elimination: a guide for programme managers World Health Organization [online], (2007).

  9. Institute of Medicine (US) Panel on Micronutrients. Dietary reference intakes for vitamin A, vitamin K, arsenic, boron, chromium, copper, iodine, iron, manganese, molybdenum, nickel, silicon, vanadium, and zinc. NCBI Bookself [online], (2001).

  10. Scientific Committee on Food & Scientific Panel on Dietetic Products, Nutrition and Allergies. Tolerable upper intake levels for vitamins and minerals. European Food Safety Authority [online], (2006).

Download references

Acknowledgements

S.Y.L. would like to acknowledge the support of NIH grant T32DK007201-37.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Boston University School of Medicine, Section of Endocrinology, Diabetes, and Nutrition, 88 East Newton Street, H3600, Boston, 02118, MA, USA

    Sun Y. Lee & Elizabeth N. Pearce

Authors
  1. Sun Y. Lee
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Elizabeth N. Pearce
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Elizabeth N. Pearce.

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

The authors declare no competing financial interests.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Lee, S., Pearce, E. Iodine intake in pregnancy—even a little excess is too much. Nat Rev Endocrinol 11, 260–261 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1038/nrendo.2015.28

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nrendo.2015.28

This article is cited by

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing