Why is iodine called the “intelligence element”? Because iodine is one of the essential trace elements, iodine deficiency will affect the child’s intelligence and growth and development, pregnant women, lactating women, infants and children iodine supplementation the earlier, the better. Iodine deficiency can easily cause stillbirth, preterm labor, miscarriage and congenital malformation. Iodine can not be seen and touched, but it is one of the essential trace elements of the human body, the total amount of iodine in healthy adults is about 30mg. 70% to 80% of the iodine is present in the body. The total amount of iodine in a healthy adult’s body is about 30mg, of which 70% to 80% exists in the thyroid gland. The thyroid gland uses iodine as one of the raw materials to synthesize thyroxine, through which it exerts its effects. Therefore, the function of iodine is actually the physiological function of thyroxine. 1.Promote energy metabolism: Promote the decomposition and metabolism of substances to produce energy and maintain basic life activities. 2.Promote development: the height, weight, bone, muscle growth and sexual development of children during the developmental period depend on thyroxine, and if there is a lack of iodine at this stage, it will lead to stunted development of children. 3.Promote brain development: In the primary stage of brain development (from the beginning of pregnancy to 2 years old after the birth of infants), the development of the human nervous system must rely on thyroxine, if iodine is lacking in the diet during this period, it will lead to backwardness in the development of the infant’s brain, and the serious cases are clinically known as “cretinism”, and this process is irreversible, and even if iodine is supplemented later, it will not be able to cause the development of children. This process is irreversible and cannot be normalized even if iodine is supplemented in the future. From the time a baby is born in the mother’s womb until it is less than two weeks old, this is a critical period for brain development. During the critical period, in order to make enough thyroid hormones, the thyroid gland needs sufficient iodine, and if any degree of iodine under-nutrition occurs, it will result in abnormal brain development. After the end of the critical period, iodine supplementation does not correct it. Iodine deficiency affects the normal growth and development of the human brain, and both mild and severe iodine deficiency can damage intelligence. In the critical period of brain development, the brain development caused by iodine deficiency is irreversible, “iodine” is therefore called “intelligence element”. According to surveys, 80% of the mentally retarded population is due to iodine deficiency. If there were no iodine deficiency, there would be far fewer mentally retarded children. Some scholars regard iodine as the only factor that affects intelligence. There are two critical periods in the development of the brain: the first is, 10-18 weeks of gestation, which is the period of brain generation. The second is, one month before delivery to two years of age which is also the period when the child develops rapidly. If iodine deficiency occurs during these two periods, it will have a great impact on the baby’s brain development. In addition, by the time the fetus is 12 weeks old, the baby’s own thyroid gland has matured and needs a lot of iodine at this time. Iodine is first important for the baby in the early stages of pregnancy and is more severe than in the middle, late, and after delivery. The earlier the iodine deficiency, the more severe the brain damage. When iodine deficiency occurs during pregnancy, it is inevitable that the baby will be born mentally retarded. The damage caused by iodine deficiency starts from pregnancy, and pregnancy, breastfeeding, and infancy are critical periods for children’s intellectual development, so it is important to pay attention to children’s iodine supplementation in the early stages of pregnancy. Nowadays, everyone says that children should not lose at the starting line, in fact, we should pay attention to the problem of iodine supplementation from the time of pregnancy. Children with mild iodine deficiency have less intellectual damage, and their IQ seems to be “normal”, but they have mild mental retardation, mild nerve damage or hypothyroidism; after entering school, they gradually show intellectual problems and lag behind in their academic performance, as well as unsteady walking gait, poor coordination of the limbs, poor hearing, and so on. Slow development, short stature and so on. For example, the IQ of mentally retarded children is bounded by 70-80, and the IQ of this disease is in the upper and lower 70s, and they will have learning difficulties after going to school. Children with severe iodine deficiency will develop “endemic cretinism”, i.e. “cretinism”. As they grow up, they show obvious mental deficiencies, a typical demented expression, short stature, deafness, and even paralysis in bed. These children are unable to take care of themselves, need help with food, clothing, shelter and transportation, are unable to attend school, and have a short life expectancy, which is medically referred to as “endemic cretinism”. Iodine is an indispensable part of the human body. When we were children, we might see people with “big necks,” which was caused by iodine deficiency. Nowadays, since the salt we eat every day is basically iodized salt, we rarely have iodine deficiency. China has done a lot of research, and the scope of iodine deficiency is very large, and there are many people living in iodine-deficient areas. According to the World Health Organization: 118 countries in the world live in iodine-deficient areas, and 1.57 billion people are iodine-deficient. In Asia, 579 million people are iodine deficient. How much iodine should be consumed per day? During breastfeeding, if the mother herself is deficient in iodine, then the iodine content in the breast milk will drop, ultimately causing iodine deficiency in infants and children. Therefore, mothers-to-be and new mothers should eat seafood once a week or drink maternal milk powder to supplement iodine. Nursing mothers should be supplied with at least 200 micrograms of iodine per day to ensure the iodine needs of both mother and baby. For children up to 6 months old, 40 micrograms per day, 6 months-1 year old, 50 micrograms per day, 1-3 year old, 70 micrograms per day, 3 years old and above, 90 micrograms per day, and 150 micrograms for normal adults. Our country explicitly orders that each kilogram of salt should contain 40 milligrams of iodine after production, 30 milligrams in the hands of sellers, and 20 milligrams in the hands of users. Because iodine is characterized as a solid to a gas, the longer it is exposed to the air, the more it evaporates. The former president of UNICEF once said that iodine deficiency is so easy to combat that it would be a crime to allow iodine-deficient children to be born. The most harmful effect of iodine deficiency on human beings is that it affects the development of the brain and causes mental defects in children. Therefore, the complete elimination of iodine deficiency disease is a major event involving the improvement of the quality of the population. While iodine deficiency is harmful, too much iodine is equally harmful, causing “hyperthyroidism”. Therefore, whether you need to take iodine supplementation in addition to your normal diet should be determined by a medical examination and doctor’s advice, and you should not take iodine supplementation blindly. Our gynecology department conducts urine iodine test, which can detect the iodine content in the body and decide whether iodine supplementation is needed based on the iodine test results.