Iodine nutrition among indigenous Tarahumara schoolchildren in Mexico

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 microg/l, while the median UI across the schools ranged from 92.0-156.5 microg/l, with 32 and 6% of the children having UI between 50-99 microg/l and 20-49 microg/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.