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. 2018 Feb 28;17(1):35.
doi: 10.1186/s12937-018-0343-0.

Assessment of household use of iodized salt and adequacy of salt iodization: a cross-sectional National Study in Saudi Arabia

Mushary H Al-Dakheel  1 , Hassan K Haridi  2 , Bushra M Al-Bashir  1 , Ali M Al-Shangiti  1 , Sulaiman N Al-Shehri  3 , Izzeldin Hussein  4   5
Affiliations

Assessment of household use of iodized salt and adequacy of salt iodization: a cross-sectional National Study in Saudi Arabia

Mushary H Al-Dakheel et al. Nutr J. .

Abstract

Objectives: This study was conducted to assess household coverage with iodized salt in Saudi Arabia, and to determine adequacy of salt iodization.

Methods: A school-based cross-sectional study using WHO 30-cluster survey methodology.

Results: Analysis of 4242 salt samples using qualitative rapid test kit (RTK) revealed that 68.7% (95% CI 67.3-70.1%) were iodized with significant regional differences (p < 0.001). The highest iodized salt samples came from Makkah (82.3%), Riyadh (81.1%) and Maddinah (76.2%) regions, while the least iodized salt samples came from Hail (31.3%), Baha (53.0%), and Northern Borders (57.5%) regions. The national weighted proportion of households consuming iodizes salt was 69.8% (95% CI 69.4-71.2), which is below the Universal Salt Iodization (USI) goal (≥90% coverage). For validation, a quantitative iodometric titration method was used to analyze 775 representative salt samples screened iodized by RTK; iodine content of ≥15 ppm was found in 95.2% (95% CI 93.9-96.5) of samples with median iodine content 51 ppm (mean 50.4 ± 21.8). More than 70% of the iodized salt samples contained iodine concentration higher than the recommended national level (15-40 ppm).

Conclusions: The study revealed inadequate consumption of iodized salt among Saudi households and explored marked regional heterogeneity. The majority of iodized salt samples contained iodine concentration more than the recommended level. These findings imply the need to launch a public awareness campaign on use of iodized salt. Legislation to ban production and sale of non-iodized salt sale for human consumption might be considered. A well-functioning monitoring system at factory level and surveillance system are crucially needed to ensure proper salt iodization and intake.

Keywords: Household; Iodized salt; Saudi Arabia.

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Conflict of interest statement

Ethics approval and consent to participate

The ethical issues of this study was reviewed and approved by the Ethical Committee of the Ministry of Health, KSA. Approval of Education Authority was obtained. A written informed consent was obtained from the parents/ guardians of participating children.

Consent for publication

Not applicable.

Competing interests

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Publisher’s Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

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