Study on the Compensatory Mechanism of Iodine Nutrition and the Optimal Intake Level of Lactating Women

Studies indicate lactating women and their infants are the most vulnerable population to the adverse effects of iodine deficiency and excess, and because of the complexity of the study of lactating mothers and infants and the difficulty of sample collection, it is proposed to overcome this problem with the help of the advanced dried blood spot technique and iodine balance study method from the panel of Iodine Global Network (IGN). Investigators intend to recruit 900 late pregnant women in Tianjin, Hebei and Shandong;then establishing a dynamic cohort of breastfeeding mother-infant to 6 months after delivery to investigate the physiological compensatory mechanism of iodine nutrition in lactating women with the combination of animal experiment; On the other hand, 180 exclusively breastfeeding mother and infants within postpartum 0-6 months, will be selected to participate the iodine balance study.

Optimized method of iodine balance experiment of infants by both foreign partner and Pro. Zhang's team will be adopted to obtain the first iodine balance value of Chinese lactating women and infants,providing the direct evidence for the revision of DRIs in lactating women and infants, and guide the lactating women proper iodine supplementation to meet the requirements of both mothers and infants.