Monitoring and impact evaluation of iodized salt intervention in Cameroon

Abstract

This study was carried out to monitor current iodization and its impact on iodine excess. The results show medians values increasing gradually from 62 ug/L to 283 μg/L then dropping to 169 μg/L for acceptable significance to above toxicity significant values of 300 μg/L as from 2006, exaggerated in 2018 at 1145 μg/L. Salt iodine contents, compared to the 20 - 40 ppm range recommended by WHO, show coarse grain as lowest with average 26.9 ppm while fine grain for human consumption average was 57.3 ppm. The extra fine grain variety has the highest iodine content at 248.8 ppm. Imported cerebos salt from France contained iodine at an average of 45.5 ppm while the Senegal salt contained iodine at an average of 182.2 ppm. The F-ratio (62.9) indicates great variation in iodine content of the salt involved while the p-value (p = 0.0002) indicates significant differences in iodine content of the salt of different refineries. By implication, there are still lapses on iodization.

Keywords: Endocrinology; Food analysis; Food safety; Nutrition; Public health.

Fig. 1

Evaluation year against median urinary iodine values.

Fig. 2

Evaluation year against average iodine in salt samples and their STDs.