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China intensifies iodine health campaign
September 27, 1997
Web posted at: 2:07 p.m. EST (1907 GMT)From Beijing Bureau Chief Andrea Koppel
GANSU, China (CNN) -- China's Ministry of Health has concluded that more than 1 billion Chinese residents live in areas where they are at risk of not getting sufficient iodine, a vital trace element.
Iodine deficiency can result in enlargement of the thyroid gland, or goiter, and mental deficiencies. Because of this, authorities have intensified efforts to alert people to the dangers of not eating enough.
CNN's Andrea Koppel reports
Gansu province, in north-central China, is one of the regions targeted by the health ministry. People in this province began to create a saying about 20 years ago: The mountains are green, the water is beautiful -- but the people are ugly.
The saying was apparently based on the fact that some people "looked ugly." But the truth, as it turned out, was based on a more alarming situation.
"My life has been hard, because my children can't work because they're retarded," one mother told CNN. "They can't do farm work or cook or do housework."
Factoid: Iodine is an essential micronutrient or trace element that is found in seafoods, iodized salt and some dairy products. Iodine deficiency can cause an enlargement of the thyroid gland; mental deficiencies, including retardation; and other health problems. Nearly 30 years after the first of her three mentally retarded sons were born, 68-year-old Bai Xiuying still cannot understand that her children's condition could have been prevented if she had eaten enough iodine during her pregnancies.
Chinese health authorities assured CNN that journalists would not find any new cases of iodine deficiency, because the problem had for the most part been solved, and that only the elder generation still suffered from iodine-deficiency syndromes.
But when CNN traveled to a certain county in Gansu province -- one selected for CNN by local officials -- Dr. Wang Jian, vice director of Gansu's disease prevention office, did not have to look far before he detected an enlarged thyroid on 12-year-old Zhang Cunan. Almost 80 percent of iodine present in the body is in the thyroid gland.
As it turned out, the boy was a below-average student in school, and Zhang told the parents that if their son did not get more iodine in his diet, he could lose even more mental ability and might end up with a big goiter on his neck.
"By not spending 20 extra cents, you've done this to your children," Zhang told the boy's father. "You've got to start buying government-approved salt that says 'iodine' on the package. Once you start using it, the kids' necks will go back to normal very quickly."
In addition to causing goiters and mental retardation -- which can cause a drop in the IQ of as much as 10 points -- iodine deficiency can cause deafness, muteness and other physical deformities.
Unless there is proper testing, there is no way of knowing how many children in rural China already have suffered from the deficiency, or will continue to suffer silently because they aren't getting the iodine they need.
Related sites:
Note: Pages will open in a new browser window
- Tour in Gansu - information about the Chinese province
- International Council for the Control of Iodine Deficiency Disorders - the expert international body on Iodine Deficiency Disorders
- ThyroLink - Web site for thyroid specialists and thyroid patients is to facilitate the search for thyroid-related information
- The Micronutrient Initiative - dedicated to the elimination of micronutrient malnutrition by supporting effective and sustainable programs:
External sites are not endorsed by CNN Interactive.
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