Insufficient iodine during pregnancy can adversely affect neurological and psychological development, reducing a child’s IQ by eight to 10 points.

More broadly, widespread iodine deficiency can diminish the cognitive capital of entire nations, diminishing socio-economic progress, experts claim.

A global movement to add small amounts of iodine to edible salt has been successfully addressing the problem of iodine deficiency since the mid 1990s, protecting the developing brains of children worldwide.

However, research published on Thursday revealed more work is needed to tackle the issue, with 14% of babies born globally still at risk of preventable brain damage.

Over the past decade, the UN children’s agency, Unicef, has been working in tandem with the Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (Gain) to tackle iodine deficiency.

Their joint report – Brighter futures: Protecting early brain development through salt iodisation – charts the impact of iodised salt in 13 countries.

“Iodised salt is a remarkable success story, but a further push is needed to complete the journey in tackling this scourge, which has affected mankind over decades and centuries,” said Roland Kupka, a senior adviser on nutrition with Unicef.

“The nutrients a child receives in the earliest years influence their brain development for life, and can make or break their chance of a prosperous future.”

The most critical period for a child’s development – and therefore for iodine intake – is the 1,000 days between conception and the age of two. Nutrition, along with protection, stimulating activities and early learning, shapes brain development for life during this spell.

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Most countries are at inherent risk of iodine deficiency because the mineral is unevenly distributed in soil and the environment. In many regions, soils are becoming increasingly depleted of iodine.

The geographical characteristics of a country determine how much iodine makes it into the food chain, but in most settings the addition of iodine to salt is required to protect against deficiency.

Nutritionists advise that salt intake should be limited to no more than five grams a day, and that all salt consumed should be iodised.

Iodised salt is now available to 86% of the world’s households, and is increasingly used in the food industry. However, challenges remain for many countries, particularly those with large numbers of small-scale salt producers.

“Countries where iodine deficiency is highly prevalent include Burundi, Mali, Madagascar, Mozambique, South Sudan, Sudan. These are all regions where a lot more work is needed,” said Kupa.

In eastern and southern Africa, iodised salt coverage is limited to 75%, leaving roughly 3.9 million newborns unprotected, the report found.

Coverage is better in south Asia, but the high number of births in the region means 4.3 million children remain at risk of reduced cognitive function.

Kupa said: “Our research indicates that 20 countries worldwide have iodine deficiency at a national level. They include a substantial number of European countries.

“Salt iodisation in many western European countries is not well implemented. Even in the UK, iodine deficiency among pregnant women has surfaced as a big problem.”

Milk is the main source of the mineral among the British population but, with milk consumption in decline, some groups are at increased risk of iodine deficiency.

While iodine can be found in grains, eggs and seafood, levels are variable and, in Britain, are insufficient to meet the needs of the population.

Greg Garrett, director of food policy at Gain, said: “Due to the collective efforts of governments, industry, civil society and others we are on the verge of being able to ensure sustainable iodine intakes for all children.

“But there is still much more to be done to end iodine deficiency and we hope others join our efforts to further scale up salt iodisation in the hardest to reach areas.”

The report recommends integrating salt iodisation into national plans to support child nutrition, aligning salt iodisation and salt reduction initiatives, and establishing surveillance systems to reach vulnerable populations.

The study also calls for stronger regulatory systems to enforce existing legislation on salt iodisation.

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Source: The Guardian

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The TTH recorded seven babies out of six deliveries; three of which were spontaneous vaginal deliveries while three others required surgical operations.

Three males and four girls were born, with two of the girls being twins.

The TCH recorded four spontaneous deliveries producing two boys and two girls.

All the deliveries were recorded before 11:00 GMT

The Midwife in charge of the Labour Ward at the TTH, Madam Mariama Musah, told the Ghana News Agency on Monday that all the children and their mothers were in good condition, adding that some of them had already been discharged.

The Midwife in-charge of the Labour Ward of the TCH, Madam Mohammed Ayishetu, also said there were no complications adding that the children and their mothers were in good condition and have been discharged.

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Source: GNA

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The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends that babies should be fed just breast milk for six months to help protect them from infection, prevent allergies and provide nutrients and energy.

But many women abandon the practice soon after the birth of their child – a situation often put down to a lack of support for new mothers. The UK, for example, has one of the lowest breastfeeding rates in the world, with just 1% of infants exclusively breastfed for their first six months.

Experts say the latest study highlights the benefits of breast milk, and of programmes promoting the practice, finding that children whose mothers attended a hospital where a breastfeeding support programme was implemented had a 54% reduction in the risk of eczema as teenagers.

“It seems that we can say from the trial that clearly promoting exclusively breastfeeding is beneficial, but there doesn’t seem to be an additional benefit of doing that beyond the first three months of life with regard to the protective effect on eczema in adolescence,” said Carsten Flohr, co-author of the study from King’s College London.

Writing in the journal JAMA Pediatrics, Flohr and colleagues describe how they began the study in the 1990s in Belarus, where 31 maternity hospitals – and one outpatient clinic linked to each hospital – were randomly assigned to one of two groups: either to carry on as usual or take part in a breastfeeding programme. These schemes train nurses, midwives and doctors to encourage and support mothers to breastfeed.

Babies in the study were then followed up at various points as they grew up to explore the impact of the breastfeeding programme – including on their lung function, asthma and eczema. While self-report questionnaires were completed by the children for all three health issues, a skin examination was also carried out for eczema, and a breath-test for lung health.

The results, collected from 13,557 16-year olds, reveal that 0.3% of those whose mothers attended hospitals and clinics taking part in the educational initiative were found by experts to have signs of eczema, compared with 0.7% of those whose mothers had received only standard care. The findings from the self-reported questionnaires did not show such clear-cut benefits.

Further analysis, looked at the effect of breastfeeding duration, finding that there was no additional benefits for eczema of exclusively breastfeeding for more than three months.

The study also reveals that 39% of mothers at sites where the educational programme was implemented exclusively breastfed for between three and six months, compared to just over 6% of mothers who were not exposed to the programme.

However the authors note that eczema is less common in Belarus than in western Europe or North America, meaning the protective effects of breastfeeding might not be as clear in those countries.

Professor Neena Modi, president of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, said that the new study emphasised that breastfeeding brings benefits, but that these should not be exaggerated and mothers should not be demonised if they do not take up the practice.

But Hans Bisgaard, professor of paediatrics at the University of Copenhagen, said breastfeeding appeared to played only a minor role, if any, in protection against eczema, pointing out that the children who had been breastfed and did not have the condition may have been more likely to turn up to the follow-up assessment.

However, Dr Amy Brown, an expert in infant nutrition at Swansea University, said that the government should take note and offer new mothers more support. “This is a fascinating study that tells us more about how the way babies are fed might affect their health,” she said. “It is particularly interesting that this study looked at health in adolescence, meaning that breastfeeding protects children long term, rather than simply when they are being breastfed.”

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Source: Guardian UK

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