Reid G, Tervit H
Med Hypotheses. 1994 Apr;42(4):245-9. doi: 10.1016/0306-9877(94)90124-4.
Foster found areas with the highest incidence of SIDS in USA in 1983-1984 coincided with the highest areas recorded with the highest incidence of goitre in First World War troops (1). Reid compared the two populations described as having the highest incidence of SIDS worldwide. Both were selenium deficient areas (King County WA, USA and Canterbury, New Zealand). Besides being a selenium livestock responsive area, Canterbury school children, prior to 1925, had a 56% incidence of goitre (2-6). Brown adipose tissue (BAT) synthesises fatty acids from glucose. BAT is a major tissue in fatty acid metabolism for the generation of heat (7). BAT has the specific property of converting thyroxine (T4) to triodothyronine (T3) via Type II deiodinase enzyme. There is a many fold increase in the activity of this deiodinase in BAT after exposure of rats to sudden cold, which is greatly impaired in selenium deficient animals (7). The accepted picture of SIDS worldwide is that there is an increased incidence in infants of young smoking mothers. The incidence peaks in the second and third month of life, in winter and as latitude increases.
福斯特发现，1983 - 1984年美国婴儿猝死综合征（SIDS）发病率最高的地区，与第一次世界大战部队中甲状腺肿发病率最高的记录地区相符（1）。里德比较了全球范围内婴儿猝死综合征发病率最高的两个人口群体。这两个地区都是缺硒地区（美国华盛顿州金县和新西兰坎特伯雷）。除了是一个对硒有反应的畜牧地区外，1925年以前，坎特伯雷的学童甲状腺肿发病率为56%（2 - 6）。棕色脂肪组织（BAT）从葡萄糖合成脂肪酸。棕色脂肪组织是脂肪酸代谢产生热量的主要组织（7）。棕色脂肪组织具有通过II型脱碘酶将甲状腺素（T4）转化为三碘甲状腺原氨酸（T3）的特性。大鼠突然暴露于寒冷环境后，棕色脂肪组织中这种脱碘酶的活性会增加许多倍，而缺硒动物的这种活性会大大受损（7）。全球公认的婴儿猝死综合征情况是，母亲吸烟的婴儿发病率会增加。发病率在出生后的第二和第三个月、冬季以及随着纬度增加时达到峰值。
