Dynamics of environmental supplementation of iodine: four years' experience of iodination of irrigation water in Hotien, Xinjiang, China.

Hotien prefecture, Xinjiang Province, China, in the Taklamakan Desert, is an area of severe iodine deficiency. Because usual methods of iodine supplementation failed here, we began supplementation in 1992 with potassium iodate, which was added to irrigation water (Lancet 1994; 334:107-110). We report 4 y experience with this method in 3 townships that contained a total treated population of 37,000.

Timing of vulnerability of the brain to iodine deficiency in endemic cretinism.

Background: Endemic cretinism, caused by severe iodine deficiency during pregnancy, is the world's most common preventable cause of mental retardation. It can be prevented by iodine treatment before conception, but whether it can be prevented or ameliorated by treatment during pregnancy or after delivery is not known.

Methods: In a severely iodine-deficient area of the Xinjiang region of China, we systematically administered iodine to groups of children from birth to three years of age (n = 689) and women at each trimester of pregnancy (n = 295); we then followed the treated children and the babies born to the treated women for two years.

Iodination of irrigation water as a method of supplying iodine to a severely iodine-deficient population in Xinjiang, China.

Severe iodine deficiency still occurs in many countries, and causes cretinism and mental impairment. In southern Xinjiang province, China, after usual methods of iodine supplementation had failed, we iodinated irrigation water to increase iodine in soil, crops, animals, and human beings. 5% potassium iodate solution, dripped into an irrigation canal for 12 or 24 days, increased soil iodine 3-fold, and crop and animal iodine 2-fold.