Despite educational intervention increasing KAP among women regarding the importance of iodine and iodized salt consumption during pregnancy, their iodine status did not improve. Considering the main socio-environmental determinants of iodine deficiency, in particular, the monitoring of salt fortification, prescribing iodine containing supplements as well as improving health literacy in pregnant women seem essential strategies.

Background The prevalence of overweight and obesity among children has raised public health concerns. This study aimed to design and evaluate a behaviour change intervention program to promote weight management among Tehranian preschoolers. Methods The PRECEDE-PROCEED model is one of the most popular models in health education used to develop and evaluate most educational interventions. In this one-group pre and post-pilot study, 13 mothers of preschoolers were recruited from preschools in Tehran (the capital of Iran), in August 2020. Mothers received a six-week educational intervention, including text messages and educational videos via WhatsApp, to increase their self-efficacy to overcome barriers changing their children’s lifestyle. Mothers reported preschoolers’ height and weight to assess Body Mass Index and filled out the Food Frequency Questionnaire, the Persian version of the children's health-related quality of life questionnaire, and demographic features. The “Children’s physical activity and sedentary behaviors checklist,” newly designed by the researchers, was also filled out by mothers. These behaviors were measured according to the minutes that children were involved in these activities in a day, and the days they spent in a week for them. All variables were measured at baseline, immediately after the intervention and three months later. Data analysis was performed using SPSS IBM statistics version 22. Friedman test was used to evaluate changes over time. Results The findings demonstrated that the mean BMI z-score stayed steady between baseline, immediately after the intervention and after three months (P = 0.60). Besides, after three months, the intervention programme led to a decrease in soft drink consumption (P = 0.001), and an increase in parental perception of their child’s general health (P = 0.05), the parental concern regarding their child’s emotional and physical health (P = 0.002) and minutes of physical activity per day (P = 0.02). However, fruit intake decreased (P = 0.01), and simple sugar, such as cube, increased (P = 0.03). Conclusion Results from this study are promising but should be interpreted with caution and should be replicated on a larger scale and compared with a control group to evaluate whether effects are maintained in a larger sample.

Pregnant women, lactating mothers, and their newborns constitute the target population for prevention and control of iodine deficiency. Hence, the aim of this study was to evaluate the iodine nutrition status among these vulnerable groups in an area with more than two decades of successful elimination of iodine deficiency. In this cross-sectional study conducted in health care centers of Tehran, 100 pregnant women and 84 lactating mothers and their newborn were randomly selected. Urinary iodine concentration and iodine content of salts were measured using the Sandell-Kolthoff and titration methods, respectively. Urinary iodine concentration <150 μg/L for pregnant women and <100 μg/L for lactating mothers and newborns was considered as iodine nutrition inadequacy, respectively. Median (interquartile range [IQR]) urinary iodine concentration (UIC) was 103 (59-155) μg/L in pregnant women, 77 (42-194) μg/L in lactating mothers, and 198 (84-260) μg/L in newborns. Median (IQR) iodine content of salt was 26 (21-30) ppm and 25 (18-28) ppm in pregnant women and lactating mothers, respectively (P = 0.462). Iodine content of salt was significantly correlated with UIC of pregnant women (r = 0.24, P = 0.019), but no correlation was found among lactating mothers (r = 0.12, P = 0.316). Neonatal UIC was significantly correlated with iodine content of salt consumed by their mothers (r = 0.49, P = 0.001). Despite suboptimal iodine status among subgroups of Tehranian pregnant and lactating women, iodine nutrition status of newborns was within optimal levels, which may be explained by a compensatory mechanism in the mammary glands.