Iodine deficiency Iodine deficiency Iodine deficiency is a lack of the trace element iodine, an essential nutrient in the diet. It may result in a goiter, sometimes as an endemic goiter as well as cretinism due to untreated congenital hypothyroidism, which results in developmental delays and other health problems. Iodine deficiency is an important public health issue as it is a preventable cause of intellectual disability. Iodine is an essential dietary mineral; the thyroid hormones thyroxine and triiodothyronine contain iodine. In areas where there is little iodine in the diet, typically remote inland areas where no marine foods are eaten, iodine deficiency
Tincture of iodine Lugol's iodine, by contrast, has no alcohol, and has twice the mass of potassium iodide as of elemental iodine. Alcohol content in the tincture of iodine can be determined by the methods of Alcock, Roscoe - Schorlemmer and Thurston - Thurston. As both USP solutions contain elemental iodine, which is moderately toxic when ingested in amounts larger than those required to disinfect water, tincture of iodine is sold labelled “for external use only,” and used primarily as a disinfectant. Tincture of iodine is often found in emergency survival kits, used both to disinfect wounds and to sanitize surface water for