Endocrine Abstracts

Seaweeds share properties with the mammalian thyroid and other iodide concentrating organs in that they take up iodide from surrounding seawater and internalise it within cells. The previously demonstrated high iodine concentration within seaweeds prompted a study of accumulation and retention of 125I and its location within the plants. Seaweed discs (1 cm3) cut from members of the red, green and brown phyla which were incubated at 4C in seawater spiked w...

Despite the relative absence of iodised salt (only ∼4% of table salt is iodised), Ireland has not been regarded as a region with a high prevalence of iodine deficiency disorders. However a recent and worrying decline in urinary iodine (UI) excretion, most marked in the summer months, was observed with median UI of 61–83 ug/L between 1988 and 1999; falling to 45.0 ug/L in 2004 and to 42.5 ug/L in 2005 with UI values <50 ug/L (64.5% and 73.9% respectively in summe...