Iodine Deficiency and Maternal-Fetal Thyroid Relationship

Abstract

The deficiency of iodine in the diet still represents a widespread serious problem of human malnutrition. The development of goiter whenever there exists iodine deficiency is the most documented phenomenun and a great number of studies on its pathophysiology have established that the goiter is a compensatory adaptation of the thyroid when the iodine supplementation becomes insufficient. Most important than this, however, is the association of endemic cretinism, an unquestionable geographic and epidemiologic commonplace observation.