J Nutr Health.  2020 Jun;53(3):271-287. 10.4163/jnh.2020.53.3.271.

Revision of an iodine database for Korean foods and evaluation of dietary iodine and urinary iodine in Korean adults using 2013–2015 Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey

• Choi JY
• Ju DL
• Song Y

• KMID: 2504015
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.4163/jnh.2020.53.3.271

Abstract

Purpose
Variations in the iodine contents of foods is critical for estimating the iodine intake. This study aimed to update the iodine database of common Korean foods and evaluated the iodine intake in Korean adults.
Methods
A list of 855 Korean foods was selected for the updated iodine database. The updated database was established with Version 1 and 2 by applying an average or minimum value for the imputed values. The iodine intake was estimated in 5,927 Korean adults using the data from the 2013–2015 Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey.
Results
The analytical values in the updated database were 166 (19.4%), followed in order by 318 (37.2%), 247 (28.9%), and 124 (14.5%) for the adapted, imputed, and missing values, respectively. The median of dietary iodine intake was 352.1 μg/day (± 2,166.1) and 343.4 μg/day (± 2,161.9) in Version 1 and 2 among the total population. The contribution rates of each food group to the iodine intake were 55.7% for seaweeds, which showed a similar trend in Version 2. When subjects were divided by consumption of seaweeds, the median iodine intake was 495.7 μg in the consumer group, which was almost double (241.2 μg) that of the non-consumer group. The proportion of subjects who consumed below the Estimated Average Requirement of iodine was 11.0% in the non-consumer group. In contrast, 11.6% in the consumer group of seaweed consumed above the Upper Level of iodine. When the dietary iodine and urinary iodine were examined, the regression coefficient was 0.11718 in Version 1 and 0.11512 in Version 2 after adjusting for age and sex.
Conclusion
This study presented the variation of iodine intake in Korean adults by applying different versions of the iodine database. As the iodine intake can vary due to the highly variable concentrations in the major food sources, an iodine database is necessary to be monitored, and caution should be taken when the database is used in research.

Keyword

iodine intake; database; iodine; urine; Koreans