Sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS): oxygen utilization and energy production

Reid found selenium (Se) deficient soils were a common factor in two populations with the highest incidence of SIDS world-wide (Indian population of King County Washington State, USA and the population of Canterbury, New Zealand). Reid compared a map of the selenium responsive livestock areas in New Zealand with areas of low soil iodine (I). She found that the 1989 report of areas of the highest SIDS incidence coincided with Se responsive livestock areas combined with low soil iodine. Foster found the 1983-84 incidence of SIDS in USA has the strongest positive correlation with the incidence of goitre in World War I troops (1916). Sodium and strontium were positively related. Emery found a hypernatraemic SIDS victim in a very cold environment. Robertson and Parker associated increased sodium (Na) (used in Scunthorpe, England, as a water softener) with increased incidence of SIDS. Godwin's study of White Muscle Disease in lambs describes Se protection. Skeletal muscle mitochondria from dystrophic animals showed lowered respiratory rates with palmitoyl-dl-carnitine and acetyl-dl-carnitine as substrate. Dystrophic organelles failed to respond to ADP. Rognun found elevated hypoxanthine and an enhanced immune response in most SIDS victims. A syndrome associated with potassium deficiency has been described as a killer of healthy, young Asian men, most often during sleep. This paper describes the interactions of sodium (Na), potassium (K), selenium (Se), and iodine (I) to some factors affecting the utilization of oxygen and the production of energy.