No influence of urinary nitrate excretion on the goitre prevalence in Germany

BACKGROUND: It has long been known that nitrate combined with iodiduria 60 mg NO(3)(-)/g creatinine (n = 1,166) evidenced a correlation with the thyroid size (r = 0.18; p < 0.01). CONCLUSION: Since alimentary iodine shortage in Germany has been overcome to a large extent (iodiduria 100-200 micro gI(-)/l) and the nitrate content lies clearly below the WHO limit, the goitrogenic effect of nitrate is only of individual and not of epidemiological importance. The slight regional differences in NO(3)(-) excretion are the consequence of the nitrate content in drinking water and have no effect on the thyroid gland.