2011 年 20 巻 3 号 p. 51-55
We investigated thyroid function and urinary iodine concentration (UIC) in seven patients with severe motor intellectual disabilities. All seven received total enteral nutrition (TEN) for more than three years with a daily iodine intake of less than 20 μg. They were diagnosed as hypothyroidism due to iodine deficiency (HID) because of high TSH levels (7.6–82.3 μIU/ml), lower free T4 (FT4 0.4–1.5 ng/dl), negative anti-thyroid antibodies (anti-thyroglobulin antibody, anti-thyroidal peroxidase antibody) and extremely low UIC (<25–58 μg/l) levels. We gave them 1–2 g powdered kelp (200–400 μg as iodine) once a day, which restored their thyroid function and normalized their UICs. We proposed that daily powdered kelp would be effective and safe to treat HID in patient receiving long term TEN.
