TITLE:
Iodine Concentration of Iodized Salts Consumed in Harper
AUTHORS:
Richard Tamba Simbo, Fayia Francis Nyuma, Maria Fe Rebecca D. Gueta
KEYWORDS:
Harper, Iodized Salt, Potassium Iodate, Potassium Iodide, Spectrophotomet-ric, Thyroid Function
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Journal of Applied Sciences,
Vol.12 No.9,
September
16,
2022
ABSTRACT: This study determined concentrations of iodine, consistent with WHO iodine fortification standards, in
commercial edible salts mostly consumed in Harper. The following hypothesis was
put forward in the research study; H1: the iodine content of the two brands of iodized salts is
different from the WHO iodine
fortification levels; H0: the iodine content of the two brands of
iodized salts is not different from the WHO iodine fortification levels. The
hypothesis was tested in MS Excel 2010 and 2016 via the T-Test function giving p-value = 0.1476 and p-value = 0.0395 indicative of no
significant difference in the iodine concentration of the salts compared with
the lower limit of WHO standard 20 mg·Kg-1 and huge contrast in the iodine
concentration of the salts compared with the upper limit of WHO standard 40 mg·Kg-1 respectively. The UV spectrophotometric method was used to analyze and measure
the iodine concentration in the twelve (12) samples of two different brands
bought from grocery stores in Harper city. Results indicated that all samples
of the two (2) brands of iodized salts contained iodine of no significant
difference relative to the lower limit of WHO standard but far below the upper limit of the WHO standard. The
study therefore recommends monitoring of commercial iodized salts by
appropriate authorities in Harper to ascertain the WHO iodization fortification
standards before reaching consumers.