IODINE CONTENT

Manawatu Herald, Volume LI, Issue 4472, 1 July 1930, Page 4

IODINE CONTENT

SOI LS AND WATERS. SIGNI FIIOA'NOE TN GOITRE. The acquaintance of most people with iodine extends! only to a bottle of dark fluid, which, when applied to the skin in the case of eats nr bruises, leaves a stain which takes some time to eradicate. But iodine has a much more recondite significance in our daily lives than that. In fact, iodine is assuming a verp important place amongst the factors that count for (he well-being or otherwise of human beings and stock too. So much was made dear on Wednesday at a general meeting of the Wellington Philosophical Society, when two papers were read containing much interesting information about iodine, a chemical elemenl wheli was discovered a little ~ver 100 years ago as a constituent of seaweed. Since then it; has been shown to exist in soils and waters and elsewhere. The first of the two papers was by Mr. L. R. Andrew, who gave a brief account of the methods used by him to determine Ihe minute amounts of iodine in certain soils and waters of New Zealand. This research work on the part of Mr. Andrew is of great importance, and I,as received verv favourable notice in England. Us value to New Zealand has been in collection with the study of supposed iodine-defi-ciency diseases, such as goitre, which; are prevalent in the country. This subject was treated in the second paper of the evening. lodine, Mr. Andrew pointed out, 'occurs in such minute quantities that its detection calls for very exact methods. By the latest, methods, however, as small a quantity as two parts in ten millions could be detected. The amount of iodine in the soil in New Zealand varied extensively, even contiguous plots of ground showing marked differences. The popular theory, that the closer to the sea the more iodine, was not in accordance with the results of soil analyses; in most cases, the facts were reversed. The amount of iodine in the waters varied extensively too, and there seemed to be no iodine in the soil and in Ihe water.

“The Relation of lodine to the Incidence of Goitre in New Zealand School Children” was the title of the second paper, by Dr. R. A. Shore. His observations, based on the examination of -well over 20,000 children, were illustrated by a series of graphs. These tended to show that, generally speaking, where the iodine content of the soil is* high, the incidence of goitre is low, and where the former is low the latter is high. There were, however, certain anomalies which at present could not be accounted for. Goitre incidence in school children was greater in girls than in boys, the percentage of goitre incidence increasing about the lime of puberty and (hereafter declining. in answer to a question during subsequent discussion, Dr. Shore said that it could not be definitely stated as yet that (he iodine deficiency was the sole factor to be considered in the incidence of goitre. There might well be some other metabolic factor to be considered in the functional working of the thyroid gland.