• Journal of Nutrition and Health
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• v.54 no.6
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• pp.644-663
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• 2021

Purpose: This study was conducted to evaluate the safety of iodine intake based on ingestion levels and urinary iodine excretion of women of childbearing age (15-45 years old) using data from the 2013-2015 Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. Methods: Iodine intake was calculated using the 24 hours dietary recall method and urinary iodine excretion. The iodine nutrition database for the analysis of dietary iodine intake was constructed using the food composition database of the Rural Development Administration (RDA), the Korean Nutrition Society (KNS), the Ministries of Food and Drug Safety, China and, Japan. The World Health Organization (WHO) evaluation criteria and hazard quotient (HQ) calculated using biomonitoring equivalents (BE) were applied to evaluate the safety of the iodine intake. Results: Of the study subjects, 15.22% had a urinary iodine concentration level of less than 100 ㎍/L, which was diagnosed as deficient, and 48.16% had an excessive iodine concentration of over 300 ㎍/L. Urinary iodine concentration was 878.71 ㎍/L, iodine/creatinine was 589.00 ㎍/g, and iodine/creatinine was significantly higher at the age of 30-45 years. The dietary iodine intake was 273.47 ㎍/day, and the iodine intake calculated from the urinary iodine excretion was 1,198.10 ㎍/day. Foods with a high contribution to iodine intake were vegetables, seafood, seaweed and processed foods. The HQ was 1.665 when the urinary iodine content was > 1,000 ㎍/L. Conclusion: The results of this study implicate that the urinary iodine concentration, rather than the dietary iodine intake, is more appropriate to evaluate the iodine status under the current situation that a comprehensive iodine database for Koreans has not been established.