Effect of different cooking methods on iodine losses

Abstract

Iodine Deficiency Disorders (IDD) is a public health problem in India. It is because of poor iodine availability to the body either due to loss of iodine from iodized salt or due to cooking. Since there is lack of scientific evidence on loss of iodine during different cooking methods, present study was undertaken to study the effect of different cooking methods on iodine losses. Methods used were boiling, roasting, shallow frying, deep frying, pressure cooking and microwave cooking. The loss of iodine ranged from 6.58% to 51.08%. Minimum losses were found during shallow frying where cooking time of salt was 1min and 15s and maximum during pressure cooking where cooking time of salt was 26min. Losses during boiling, roasting, deep frying and microwave cooking were found to be 40.23%, 10.57%, 10.40% and 27.13% respectively. From the obtained results, authors have concluded that the loss of iodine depends upon type of cooking method and time of addition of salt during cooking.