Document Type

Article

Journal/Book Title/Conference

Economics Research Institute Study Paper

Volume

96

Issue

19

Publisher

Utah State University Department of Economics

Publication Date

1996

Rights

Copyright for this work is held by the author. Transmission or reproduction of materials protected by copyright beyond that allowed by fair use requires the written permission of the copyright owners. Works not in the public domain cannot be commercially exploited without permission of the copyright owner. Responsibility for any use rests exclusively with the user. For more information contact the Institutional Repository Librarian at digitalcommons@usu.edu.

First Page

1

Last Page

30

Abstract

The population of the Ounein Valley in the High Atlas Mountains in Morocco is at high risk of iodine deficiency. We investigated local children's iodine deficiency and goiterpattems as well as food consumption habits through a household survey. Median urinary iodine content and goiter analysis both reflect moderate iodine deficiency. Total fish consumption has a statistically significant, positive effect on urinary iodine content. Fish consumption, like that of salt, is closely related to market access. Respondents are uniformly unaware of the dietary etiology of goiter. An effective strategy to reduce the high incidence of iodine deficiency disorder among children in the valley must attend to four crucial issues: fish consumption, salt iodization, nutrition education, and market access.

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