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Assessment of the Iodine Status of Lactating Women and Infants in Shanghai, China

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Abstract

There is a risk of iodine deficiency among pregnant women in China. However, research on the iodine status of lactating women and infants is scarce. In this study, we aimed to evaluate the iodine status of lactating women and their infants and explore the relationship between breast milk iodine concentrations (BMICs) and urinary iodine concentrations (UICs). In total, 257 lactating women and their infants were recruited from the Shanghai Sixth People’s Hospital East campus between May 2018 and May 2019. The BMIC and UIC were measured by inductively coupled plasma‒mass spectrometry (ICP‒MS). One-day 24-h dietary recall was used to determine the dietary intake of iodine. The mean dietary intake of iodine among the lactating women was 145.1 μg/day, and 97.83% (n = 225) of the lactating women had a dietary iodine intake below 240 μg/day. The median BMIC and UIC of the lactating women was 150.7 μg/L (interquartile range, IQR 102.9, 205.5) and 110.0 μg/L (IQR 65.8, 171.4), respectively, and the median UIC of the infants was 212.7 μg/L (IQR 142.1, 320.6). The BMIC of lactating women who consumed iodized salt was significantly higher than that of lactating women who did not consume iodized salt (p = 0.015). The infants’ UIC values were significantly correlated with the BMIC values (r = 0.597**, p < 0.001). The iodine nutritional status of lactating women and infants in Shanghai was generally sufficient according to the WHO's iodine nutritional status recommendation. The use of iodized salt was related to increasing dietary iodine intake and the BMIC. Improvements in BMICs have positive effects on the nutritional levels of iodine in infants.

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Data availability

The data used to support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon request.

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Acknowledgements

We would like to thank the lactating women and their children for participating in this study. We are also grateful to the Shanghai Sixth People’s Hospital East staff.

Funding

This research was supported by the Scientific Research Fund of the Shanghai Municipal Commission of Health and Family Planning and the Shanghai Municipal Health Commission (No. 201640250, 2019ZB0104).

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Author notes

  1. Wenqing Yan and Chunling Bao contributed equally to this work and should be considered co-first authors.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. The International Peace Maternity and Child Health Hospital, School of Medicine, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, China

    Wenqing Yan, Wenxia Tian & Wenguang Sun

  2. Shanghai Key Laboratory of Embryo Original Diseases, Shanghai, China

    Wenqing Yan, Wenxia Tian & Wenguang Sun

  3. Obstetrics and Gynecology, Shanghai Sixth People’s Hospital East Campus, Shanghai, China

    Chunling Bao

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  1. Wenqing Yan
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Contributions

Wenguang Sun was responsible for the study design and critical revision of the article. Wenqing Yan performed the data collection and analysis, drafted the article, and performed the writing-review process and editing. Chunling Bao performed the clinical diagnosis and recruitment. Wenqing Yan and Wenxia Tian administered the questionnaire and collected the data.

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Correspondence to Wenguang Sun.

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Yan, W., Bao, C., Tian, W. et al. Assessment of the Iodine Status of Lactating Women and Infants in Shanghai, China. Biol Trace Elem Res 201, 5512–5520 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12011-023-03612-4

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