[A project of the Ministry of Health for iodine prophylaxis in Italy: Salt in food for the prophylaxis of iodine deficiency and the prevention of hypertension].

A main goal to achieve in order to reduce the incidence of wrong nutritional habit associated diseases, according to the engagement taken on the FAO/WHO International Conference on Nutrition 1992 is the eradication of the endemic goitre and other iodine deficiency disorders. Iodine nutritional lack is, in Italy, a heavy public health problem; above 10% of population (about 5 million) has to bear thyroid troubles and in many of the Italian regions such a kind of pathology may involve more than 20% of scholastic population. All these disorders could be completely eradicated by means of a continuous and generalized iodine prophylaxis, as it has already been verified in several European countries. The most effective way to ensure the correct daily intake of iodine is the substitution of the usual cooking salt by iodine enriched salt; salt is in fact eaten by everybody at daily rates ungoverned by economical factors as it is a low cost product. Due to the heavy social relevance of this problem, an educational campaign is going on, from the Italian Ministry of Health "Salt in food for iodine deficiency disorder prophylaxis and hypertension prevention". The purpose is to achieve, by means of a unique message based on salt, a double goal in terms of public health: eradicating endemic goitre and preventing hypertension (reducing the salt global intake to less than 6 g/day).