ABUJA - THE Nation’s National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) has advised Nigerians to consume only iodized salts to ensure total eradication of Iodine deficiency malnutrition from the country.
Speaking at the opening of a one-day media sensitization workshop organized by the NAFDAC in collaboration with UNICEF in Abuja, Director-General, NAFDAC, Dr. Dora Akunyili said micro nutrient malnutrition with special reference to iodine is one of the most devastating nutritional problems nationwide that poses a great threat to human and animal life in Nigeria.
“In addition, for children and even for unborn babies, iodine deficiency causes growth retardation and poor mental development leading to low intelligence. The most frightening aspect of iodine deficiency in babies and children is the inability of the brain to be fully developed for maximum IQ.”
Iodine Deficiency Disorder includes goiter, cretinism (reduced growth), dry skin, constipation, still births and miscarriages.
A survey conducted in Nigeria in 1993 indicated a 20 per cent prevalence rate for IDD (as grade 1 and 2 goiters), with estimated 25 to 35 million Nigerians at risk. At this time, less than 40 per cent of table salt sold in Nigeria markets was iodized.
She said Nigerians must stop buying salt packed in big bags with the aim of wanting it to last longer stressing that the longer it last, the more it loses its iodine content thereby posing a great challenge to health.
“Always buy iodized salt packed in small bags, when you buy salts in a small bag, it means that it can last for one or two months and it is finished and with its iodine content retained. But if you buy big bags of salt and it stays for one year after about nine months it does not contain anything because the iron keeps evaporating and diminishing.
“I also call on every Nigerian that they should look out for NAFDAC’s number on bags or smaller packets of salt; they should also look out for logo that shows that the salt is iodized. The logo is a map of Nigeria in green circled by black and three white human figures inserted in white, it is also necessary to inform everybody that iodine is better retained in small packets of salt than in big bags and when they are retailed in mudus.
