China's Ministry of Health will make some adjustment to iodised salt by lowering the iodine level.
According to a representative from the MoH, China has been establishing and improving an iodine deficiency diseases monitoring system since 1995 and has been conducting investigations and evaluations on regions vulnerable to iodine deficiency diseases annually. Based on the problems identified, the MoH will now make some necessary adjustments to prevent deficiency diseases.
It is learned that as a part of the adjustment, the MoH will lower the iodine content of edible salt, make the content of iodine more constant, and adjust the particulate size to make it more digestible.
China's Regulation on Adding Iodine to Salt to Eliminate Iodine Deficiency Diseases states that iodine-free salt shall be supplied to iodine rich regions, patients with thyroid disease, and patients who can't take in excessive iodine.
Relevant surveys show that about 3.098 million people in China are living in regions with high iodine levels and by October 2008, iodised salt supply had been stopped for 647 towns in 82 counties in six Chinese provinces, including Shandong, Hebei, and Jiangsu. It is said people threatened by levels of iodine in the water in these regions accounting for 91.4% of the country's total.
However, in response to reports that the increase of thyroid cancer in some areas may have something to do with the intake of iodised salt, epidemiology experts say that the cause of thyroid cancer is unclear but there is insufficient evidence to say that it is affiliated to iodised salt. The experts say that iodine content can in some way help lessen the incidence of thyroid cancer.
The World Health Organization's recommended daily intake of iodine is 150-300 micrograms per person.
