Global Iodine Deficiency Prevention Day 2023: Date, History, Facts about Iodine

According to historical records, early Chinese medical texts from around 3600 B.C.

Every year on October 21, Global Iodine Deficiency Prevention Day is observed. The day raises awareness of the vital role iodine plays in maintaining human health. Iodine is a micronutrient required for optimal growth and development as well as proper thyroid function.

The background of Global Iodine Deficiency Prevention Day

According to historical records, early Chinese medical texts from around 3600 B.C. were the first to document the reduction in goitre size following consumption of seaweed and burnt marine sponge. The writings of Hippocrates, Galen, and Roger in later centuries show that these medicines were still effective and that their use persisted despite the lack of iodine.

Iodine was accidentally discovered during the first half of the nineteenth century. In 1811, while extracting sodium salts for use in the production of gunpowder, the French chemist Bernard Courtois observed a peculiar purple vapour rising from seaweed ash treated with sulfuric acid. French chemist Gaspard Adolphe Chatin was the first to publish the idea of population iodine deficit as the cause of endemic goitre, which was first proposed in 1852. Eugen Baumann, who in 1896 published a paper describing the discovery of iodine in the thyroid gland, verified this.

During the 1990 World Summit for Children, world leaders established a target to eliminate iodine deficiency by the year 2000. As a result, India and China established their own National Days for the Prevention of Iodine Deficiency Disorders. Countries from all over the world have lent their support to this initiative and found methods to guarantee that their citizens receive sufficient iodine.

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