Stable iodine contents in human milk related to dietary algae consumption.

Abstract

Studies were carried out to investigate iodine contents in human milk with relation to dietary algae consumption by nursing women and to estimate stable iodine intake by breast-fed babies. The iodine contents in human milk collected from the Tokai-mura area showed a fairly wide variation ranging from 80 to 7, 000μg/l, though the highest frequency was around 150μg/l. It was observed that high contents were closely related to the intake of tangle (Konbu), Laminariaceae, specifically tangle stock and/or tangle shavings (Tororokonbu) as soup. The temporal increase was followed by the rapid decrease when the mothers stopped taking the tangle stock and/or tangle shavings soup.It was observed that water-extractability of iodine from tangle was much higher than that from the other algae, and the water-extractable iodine was absorbable to the human body.