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Iodine in household cooking salt no longer plays a crucial role in iodine status of residents in Tianjin, China

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Abstract

Purpose

The contribution of household cooking salt to population iodine status is decreasing in China, the applicability of the coverage rate of iodized salt (IS), proportion of adequately iodized salt (AIS), and salt iodine concentration (SIC) of household cooking salt used for iodine status assessment of residents requires further investigation.

Methods

Through the IDD control project, 16,445 children and 4848 pregnant women were recruited from Tianjin, China and the relationship between the coverage rate of IS, proportion of AIS, SIC, and population iodine status was analyzed. Additionally, through the thyroid health survey project, 856 children with IS or noniodized salt were recruited. The effects of different household cooking salts on individual iodine status and thyroid health were analyzed.

Results

After adjusting for confounding factors, no relationship was found between the coverage rate of IS, proportion of AIS, SIC of household cooking salt, and iodine status of children and pregnant women (all P > 0.05). No differences in levels of thyroid function and structural indicators were found in children with different household cooking salts (all P > 0.05). Additionally, no relationship was found between noniodized salt exposure and goiter, overt hyperthyroidism, overt hypothyroidism, thyroid nodules, antibody single positivity, or subclinical hypothyroidism (all P > 0.05).

Conclusion

Iodine in household cooking salt no longer plays a crucial role in iodine status in Tianjin, China. Other indicators must be identified as beneficial supplements for precise iodine status evaluation not only in Tianjin but also in other large cities in China.

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Funding

This work was supported by the National Nature Science Foundation of China [81573107] and Scientific and Technological Project of Tianjin health (ZC20048).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Occupational and Environmental Health Sciences, School of Public Health, Peking University, Beijing, 100083, China

    Yushan Cui, Pai Zheng, Zhangjian Chen & Guang Jia

  2. Institute of Environment and Health, Tianjin Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 6 Huayue Road, Hedong District, Tianjin, 300011, China

    Yushan Cui, Yang Wang, Changchun Hou, Dandan Zhang, Wenfeng Li, Yani Duan & Fang Li

  3. Beijing Key Laboratory of Toxicological Research and Risk Assessment for Food Safety, School of Public Health, Peking University, Beijing, 100083, China

    Pai Zheng, Zhangjian Chen & Guang Jia

  4. School of Public Health, Tianjin Medical University, 22 Qixiangtai Road, Heping District, Tianjin, 300070, China

    Hongliang Liu

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  1. Yushan Cui
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Contributions

YC, YW, and GJ contributed to conceptualization. YC and DZ were involved in data curation, formal analysis, and validation. YW and HL contributed to funding acquisition. YC, YW, CH, DZ, WL, YD, and FL were involved in investigation. YC, PZ, ZC, and GJ contributed to methodology. YW, HC, HL, and GJ were responsible project administration and resources. YW and GJ performed supervision. YC was involved in visualization and writing—original draft. PZ, ZC, and GJ contributed to writing—review and editing. All the authors read and approved the final manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Guang Jia.

Ethics declarations

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that there are no conflicts of interest.

Informed consent

This study was approved by the “The medical ethics committee of Tianjin Centers for Disease Control and Prevention” and has been carried out in accordance with followed the ethical guidelines set out in the Declaration of Helsinki. All the selected children agreed to participate with consent from their guardians, and the pregnant women consented to participate.

Consent to participate

All participants have consented to participate in this study.

Consent for publication

The participants have consented to the submission of the manuscript to the journal.

Supplementary Information

Below is the link to the electronic supplementary material.

Supplementary file1 (DOCX 22 KB)

394_2021_2792_MOESM2_ESM.tif

Supplementary file2 Distribution map of sample collection in Tianjin. The dot indicates that in 2016–2020 (2016–2018 for pregnant women), the IDD control project monitored at least 200 children and 100 pregnant women in the district. The triangle represents that at least 100 children and 60 pregnant women were monitored in 2016 in the IDD control project, and at least 200 children and 100 pregnant women were monitored in 2017–2020 (2017–2018 for pregnant women). The square indicates that the IDD control project was not monitored in the district in 2016, and at least 200 children and 100 pregnant women were monitored in 2017–2020 (2017–2018 for pregnant women). The red diamond represents the district where the thyroid health survey project of children exposed to different household cooking salts was performed in Tianjin (TIF 2451 KB)

394_2021_2792_MOESM3_ESM.tif

Supplementary file3 DAG of confounding factor screening for the effects of noniodized salt on thyroid abnormalities (TIF 3604 KB)

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Cui, Y., Wang, Y., Hou, C. et al. Iodine in household cooking salt no longer plays a crucial role in iodine status of residents in Tianjin, China. Eur J Nutr 61, 2435–2449 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00394-021-02792-w

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00394-021-02792-w

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