Iodine Concentration of Iodized Salts Consumed in Harper

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.