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Sixty million people of Bangladesh do not take in enough iodine, resulting in several physio-psychological complexities, including poor intelligence, speakers said on Saturday.
Businesses overcharge a kilogram of salt for adding iodine, but in practice it is often found to be lower than the standard set by the government, they said.
The speakers made the observations at a roundtable styled 'Poor iodine intake and problems with the use of excessive salt'.
Poribesh Bachao Andolon (POBA) hosted the event at its office in the capital with POBA chairman Abu Naser Khan in the chair, according to a statement.
POBA general secretary Abdus Sobhan and Prof Md Akhtaruzzaman of the Institute of Nutrition and Food Science at Dhaka University, among others, attended it.
Md Monjuroor Huq of Iodine and Salt Research Centre presented a keynote paper at the roundtable.
The discussants said the authorities concerned barely look into the issues related to the intake of iodised salt as required by a policy.
Due to inadequate iodine intake, people suffer from problems like obesity, short stature, poor memory, impatience and inattentiveness.
According to a World Health Organisation report, Bangladesh lacks natural iodine sources, but there is a strong need for adding iodine to edible salt.
The speakers suggested re-fixing per-capita intake rate as per the National Salt Policy 2016.
They called for redefining the level of iodine in salt, food supplement and other products as per global standards.
The discussants also suggested creating public awareness of the intake of iodised salt and the negative impact of consuming excessive salt.