Chapter 37 – Supplemental Iodine

Iodine is an essential micronutrient in animal and human nutrition, but its deficiency in the human diet is still a major global nutritional challenge. Iodine-enriched eggs are a promising solution to prevent iodine deficiency disorders; hence, the possibility and consequences of improving the iodine content of eggs are assessed in this chapter. Iodine supplementation of the laying hen diet is an efficient method of obtaining eggs with increased iodine content that simultaneously does not affect the performance of hens or egg traits if levels are kept below 5 mg of iodine/kg of feed. Therefore, the recommended maximum content of iodine in the feed for laying hens is in the range of 3–5 mg of iodine/kg. Eggs, being the second largest iodine source of animal origin, may play a key role in preventing iodine deficiency in humans which is still a public health problem in many countries.