The iodine content of Faroese food items to support iodine nutrition in the North Atlantic

Figures & data

Table 1. Iodine-content food items produced in the Faroe Islands.

Food groups		Food items	Samples	Mean µg/kg or µg/L	Min	Max
Dairy products	Milk and yoghurt	Milk^a	16	67	39	89
		Sour cream and yoghurt^b	6	89	42	189
		Cream^c	7	49	39	64
	Cheese	Butter	3	28	24	35
		Cheese^d	2	70
Marine products	Fish products	Cod^e	2	>320
		Salmon	3	>320		403
		Halibut	1	>320
		Fish balls (homemade)^f	1	>320
		Fish balls (commercial)	1	84
		Fish sausage	1	48
	Whale	Whale meat^g	1	>320
		Whale blubber^h	1	>320
	Seaweed	Seaweed	2	>320
	Sea birds	Common guillemont^i (fat)	1	>320
		Puffin (meat)	1	244
Terrestrial products	Meat	Sausage roll (lamb)	2	25
		Fermented meat (lamb)	3	76	53	105
		Hare	1	20
	Offal	Heart (lamb)	1	19
		Kidney (lamb)	1	64
		Liver (lamb)^j	2	39
		Blood (lamb)	1	125
		Tallow^e	2	21
Grains		Bread^k	2	178
		Rye bread (home-baked)	1	39
		Non-sweet biscuit	1	27
		Pizza	1	128
Vegetables	Vegetables	Kohlrabi root (raw)	1	12
		Kohlrabi root (pickled)	1	8
		Carrot (raw)	1	12
	Potatoes	Potato (raw)	2	14
		Potato (boiled)	1	23
	Other	Parsley (domestic-grown)	1	209
		Rhubarb jam	1	5
Salt		Salt	5	24	9	72
Beverages		Beer	3	1
		Sparkling water	3	0
		Cider	1	0
		Liquor	2	0

^aIncludes four types of fat content: 0.1%; 0.5%; 1.5%; 3.5%. ^bIncludes sour cream and plain & fruity yoghurt. ^cFat content 38%. ^dOne type of cheese. ^e Fresh and fermented. ^fContent is nearly 100% fresh fish. ^gDried whale meat. ^hSalted whale blubber. ⁱUria aalge. ^jPaté and raw liver. ^kCommercially produced wheat and rye.

Table 2. Estimated iodine intake based on four days of consumption of Faroese-produced food products, each column represents one day. The total intake of food (“g”), and the iodine intake, (“microg”).

		Iodine content	Meat dinner Meat lunch		Fish dinner Meat lunch		Fish dinner Fish lunch		Whale dinner Fish lunch
	Meal	µg/kg	g	µg	g	µg	g	µg	g	µg
Foods	Cod	307	-		150	46.1	150	46.1	-
	Salmon	400^a	-		-		25	10.0	25	10.0
	Fishcake	84	-		-		20	1.7	20	1.7
	Whale meat	400^a	-		-		-		175	70.0
	Whale blubber	400^a	-		-		-		50	20.0
	Bread	178^b	145	25.8	145	25.8	145	25.8	145	25.8
	Non-sweet biscuit	27	25	0.7	25	0.7	25	0.7	25	0.7
	Butter	28	35	1.0	35	1.0	35	1.0	35	1.0
	Cheese	70	45	3.2	45	3.2	45	3.2	45	3.2
	Liver pate	47	20	0.9	20	0.9	-		-
	Sausage roll	35	13	0.5	13	0.5	13	0.5	-
	Wind dried sheep (cold cut)	79	20	1.6	20	1.6	20	1.6	20	1.6
	Fermented sheep (dinner)	50	150	7.5	-		-		-
	Salt	24	8	0.2	8	0.2	8	0.2	8	0.2
	Kohlrabi (raw)	12	20	0.2	20	0.2	20	0.2	20	0.2
	Kohlrabi (pickled)	8	20	0.2	20	0.2	20	0.2	20	0.2
	Carrot	12	20	0.2	20	0.2	20	0.2	20	0.2
	Potato boiled	23	180	4.1	180	4.1	180	4.1	180	4.1
	Rhubarb jam	5	20	0.1	20	0.1	20	0.1	20	0.1
	Total intake		721	46.2	721	84.8	746	95.6	808	139.0
	Drinks	µg/L	mL	µg	mL	µg	mL	µg	mL	µg
Drinks	Tap water	0	1350	0.0	1350	0.0	1000	0.0	400	0.0
	Sparkling water	0	-		-		200	0.0	-
	Milk	67	50	3.4	50	3.4	400	26.8	1000	67.0
	Beer	0	200	0.0	200	0.0	-		200	0.0
	Total drink intake		1600	3.4	1600	3.4	1600	26.8	1600	67.0
Estimated iodine intake	Iodine from foods:			46.2		84.8		95.6		139.0
	Iodine from drinks			3.4		3.4		26.8		67.0
	Total iodine			49.6		88.2		122.4		206.0

^aIodine content in the food product was >320 µg/kg (see Table 1) and therefore an estimated iodine concentration is provided. ^bBread includes rye- and wheat bread and the iodine content is average one rye bread and one wheat bread sample (see Supplementary Table S1).

Figure 1. Mean iodine contents of groups of 89 Faroese foods to portray the relative importance of items for iodine intake among people living in isolated islands in the North Atlantic Ocean.

Figure 2. Picture a sheep in the Faroe Islands searching for food on the coast and eating seaweed. It was printed with permission from copyright holder Bjarki G. Dalsgarð.