Endocrine Abstracts

Introduction: A woman’s iodine requirements increase substantially during pregnancy to ensure adequate supply to both mother and fetus. The deficiency of this element may cause several maternal-fetal repercussions. For this reason, iodine supplementation for pregnancy has been recommended and the World Health Organization (WHO) commends an iodine urinary concentration at a median UIC 150–249 μg/l. As in many other countries around the world, there is evidence of iodine deficiency among Brazilian pregnant women. In fact, a recent study identified UIC below 150 μg/l in 57% of the pregnant women investigated. Iodine supplements availability have not yet been evaluated in the country and our objective was identify the availability of dietary supplements for pregnant women in Brazil and verify the amount of iodine present on them, correlating it with the new global recommendations.

Methods: We used our national health electronic system (Anvisa’s Bulário Eletrônico) to investigate the nutritional information of dietary supplements used by pregnant women through their package insert. Further, we contacted the pharmaceutical industries and consulted the Brazilian Dictionary of Pharmaceutical Specialties (DEF) 2012–2013.

Results: There are, currently, 23 dietary supplements for pregnant women in use. Based on daily iodine intake recommended by American Thyroid Association, European Thyroid Association and WHO (minimum of 150 μg/day), 52.2% out of these products contain no iodine; 13.0% contain insufficient amounts of iodine (1–149 μg); and only 34.8% contain the recommended quantity of this element.

Conclusion: Despite salt iodination, recent data indicate that at least half of Brazilian pregnant women present iodine insufficiency, reinforcing the need of iodine supplementation during the prenatal period. However, the present study indicates that just one third of the commercially available dietary supplements currently used by Brazilian pregnant women contain the internationally recommended daily iodine intake.