Human Exposure to Iodine from the Consumption of Edible Seaweeds
Abstract
The increasing consumption of wakame algae (Undaria pinnatifida) and kombu (Laminaria ochroleuca) because of their culinary appeal and beneficial properties means there is a need to study the composition of these new foods. Algae stand out for their high iodine content, this being an essential element whenever it is ingested at recommended levels but which, ingested in high quantities, can cause harmful effects to health such as hyperthyroidism and even goiter. The iodine content in 30 samples of algae from different geographical origins (Asia and Europe) has been determined by oxidation-reduction titration with sodium thiosulfate. European kombu algae (27.7 ± 5.4 mg/kg dry weight) have the highest mean average iodine concentrations. European algae have higher iodine content than Asian algae. Significant differences (p < 0.05) have been recorded among wakame algae according to geographical origin. The consumption of 4 g/day of European kombu algae means an intake of 111 μg/day of iodine, which is a value close to the RDI (recommended daily intake) set at 150 μg/day. It is necessary to monitor iodine levels in algae to avoid excessive intakes and harmful effects on health.
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Claims the paper makes
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
Although iodine is essential for thyroid hormone synthesis and beneficial in preventing deficiencies, excessive intake has been linked to thyroid dysfunction, autoimmune thyroiditis, and increased risk of thyroid cancers such as papillary carcinoma.
“Although iodine is essential for thyroid hormone synthesis and beneficial in preventing deficiencies, excessive intake has been linked to thyroid dysfunction, autoimmune thyroiditis, and increased risk of thyroid cancers such as papillary carcinoma [231,232].”
From Navigating the potential of algal peptides: health effects, market applications, and scientific challenges (2026) · cites this paper as [232]
Eating just 4 g of dried seaweed reaches the maximum tolerance level for adults.
“Meanwhile, nutritionists found that eating just 4 g of dried seaweed reached the maximum tolerance level for adults [72].”
From Current Status and Future Trends in Removal, Control, and Mitigation of Algae Food Safety Risks for Human Consumption (2022) · cites this paper as [72]
Cites
Seaweed in food products: biochemical and nutritional aspects
Mabeau, S., & Fleurence, J. (1993) · Trends in Food Science & Technology · doi:10.1016/0924-2244(93)90091-n · Cited by 622 · see citing works
The Effects of Amiodarone on the Thyroid
Martino, E., Bartalena, L., Bogazzi, F., & Braverman, L. E. (2001) · Endocrine Reviews · doi:10.1210/edrv.22.2.0427 · Cited by 559 · see citing works
Risks and benefits of consuming edible seaweeds
Cherry, P., O’Hara, C., Magee, P. J., McSorley, E. M., & Allsopp, P. J. (2019) · Nutrition Reviews · doi:10.1093/nutrit/nuy066 · Cited by 440 · see citing works
The role of iodine in human growth and development
Zimmermann, M. B. (2011) · Seminars in Cell and Developmental Biology · doi:10.1016/j.semcdb.2011.07.009 · Cited by 368 · see citing works
Variability of Iodine Content in Common Commercially Available Edible Seaweeds
Teas, J., Pino, S., Critchley, A. T., & Braverman, L. E. (2004) · Thyroid · doi:10.1089/thy.2004.14.836 · Cited by 279 · see citing works
Scientific Opinion on Dietary Reference Values for iodine
EFSA Panel on Dietetic Products, N. A. A. (. (2014) · EFSA Journal · doi:10.2903/j.efsa.2014.3660 · Cited by 267 · see citing works
Chakraborty, S., Bhattacharya, T., Singh, G., & Maity, J. P. (2014) · Ecotoxicology and Environmental Safety · doi:10.1016/j.ecoenv.2013.12.003 · Cited by 231 · see citing works
Iodine Excess as an Environmental Risk Factor for Autoimmune Thyroid Disease
Luo, Y., Kawashima, A., Ishido, Y., Yoshihara, A., Oda, K., Hiroi, N., Ito, T., Ishii, N., & Suzuki, K. (2014) · International Journal of Molecular Sciences · doi:10.3390/ijms150712895 · Cited by 202 · see citing works
A review of iodine toxicity reports
Pennington, J. A. T. (1990) · Journal of the American Dietetic Association · doi:10.1016/s0002-8223(21)01843-5 · Cited by 170 · see citing works
Review of analytical methods for the quantification of iodine in complex matrices
Shelor, C. P., & Dasgupta, P. Κ. (2011) · Analytica Chimica Acta · doi:10.1016/j.aca.2011.05.039 · Cited by 157 · see citing works
Dawczynski, C., Schäfer, U., Leiterer, M., & Jahreis, G. (2007) · Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry · doi:10.1021/jf0721500 · Cited by 134 · see citing works
Brown and red seaweeds as potential sources of antioxidant nutraceuticals
Jiménez‐Escrig, A., Gómez‐Ordóñez, E., & Rupérez, P. (2011) · Journal of Applied Phycology · doi:10.1007/s10811-011-9742-8 · Cited by 127 · see citing works
Bioavailability study using an in-vitro method of iodine and bromine in edible seaweed
Romarís–Hortas, V., García-Sartal, C., Barciela‐Alonso, M. C., Domínguez‐González, R., Moreda‐Piñeiro, A., & Bermejo‐Barrera, P. (2010) · Food Chemistry · doi:10.1016/j.foodchem.2010.07.117 · Cited by 92 · see citing works
Analysis of Iodine Content in Seaweed by GC-ECD and Estimation of Iodine Intake
Yeh, T. S., Hung, N. H., & Lin, T. C. (2014) · Journal of Food and Drug Analysis · doi:10.1016/j.jfda.2014.01.014 · Cited by 87 · see citing works
Hetzel, B. S., & MABERLY, G. F. (1986) · Elsevier eBooks · doi:10.1016/b978-0-08-092469-4.50006-6 · Cited by 45 · see citing works
Wang, C., Yatsuya, H., Li, Y., Ota, A., Tamakoshi, K., Fujino, Y., Mikami, H., Iso, H., & Tamakoshi, A. (2016) · European Journal of Cancer Prevention · doi:10.1097/cej.0000000000000168 · Cited by 33 · see citing works
Confidence intervals for comparing two scale parameters based on levene statistics
Pan, G. (2002) · Journal of nonparametric statistics · doi:10.1080/10485250213112 · Cited by 31 · see citing works
Lauterbach, A., & Uber, G. (2011) · Kirk-Othmer Encyclopedia of Chemical Technology · doi:10.1002/0471238961.0915040912012120.a01.pub3 · Cited by 26 · see citing works
Andersen, S., Noahsen, P., Rex, K. F., Sørensen, H. C. F., & Mulvad, G. (2019) · Journal of Medicinal Food · doi:10.1089/jmf.2018.0187 · Cited by 24 · see citing works
de Escobara, G. M., & del Rey, F. E. (2000) · Anales de Pediatría · doi:10.1016/s1695-4033(00)77404-2 · Cited by 21 · see citing works
Sangiuliano, D., Rubio, C., Gutiérrez, A. J., et al. (2017) · Journal of Food Protection · doi:10.4315/0362-028x.jfp-17-184 · Cited by 21 · see citing works
Self-citationDetermination of iodide in seaweed. A general chemistry research experience
Senyk, J. I. (1977) · Journal of Chemical Education · doi:10.1021/ed054p511 · Cited by 2 · see citing works
Determinación de metales y elementos traza en algas: evaluación nutricional y toxicológica
Montelongo, S. P. (2018) · Dialnet (Universidad de la Rioja) · Cited by 2 · see citing works
Flagged first, then by citations
Cited by
Sorted by citations
Algae as Food in Europe: An Overview of Species Diversity and Their Application
Mendes, M., Navalho, S., Ferreira, A., Paulino, C., Figueiredo, D., Silva, D., Gao, F., Gama, F., Bombo, G., Jacinto, R., et al. (2022) · Foods · doi:10.3390/foods11131871 · Cited by 234 · see citing works
Wu, G., Zhuang, D., Chew, K. W., Ling, T. C., Khoo, K. S., Van Quyen, D., Feng, S., & Show, P. L. (2022) · Molecules · doi:10.3390/molecules27196633 · Cited by 51 · see citing works
Algal proteins for sustainable nutrition and functional food innovation
Saeed, F., Tul Zohra, K., Naveed, K., Zia, A., Khaliq, M., Noor, Z., Khaliq, K., & Ali, M. A. (2025) · Applied Food Research · doi:10.1016/j.afres.2025.100752 · Cited by 19 · see citing works
Khaliq, M., Noor, Z., Moazzam, M., Saeed, F., Tul-Zohra, K., Tariq, E., Muhammad Shahbaz, H., & Khaliq, K. (2026) · Annals of Medicine · doi:10.1080/07853890.2026.2637282 · Cited by 4 · see citing works
“Although iodine is essential for thyroid hormone synthesis and beneficial in preventing deficiencies, excessive intake has been linked to thyroid dysfunction, autoimmune thyroiditis, and increased risk of thyroid cancers such as papillary carcinoma [231,232].”
- Authors
- González, A., Paz, S., Rubio, C., Gutiérrez, Á. J., & Hardisson, A.
- Affiliations
- Universidad de La Laguna (ES)
- Corresponding author
- Paz, Soraya
- Venue
- Biological Trace Element Research
- Published
- 2019-12-10
- Volume
- 197
- Issue
- 2
- Pages
- 361-366
- ISSN
- 0163-4984 (ISSN-L)
- 1559-0720
- OpenAlex
- W2993697713
- Cited by
- 23
- References
- 23
- Citations by year
- 2026: 4 · 2025: 4 · 2024: 3 · 2023: 3 · 2022: 5 · 2021: 2 · 2020: 2
- FWCI
- 2.00
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Biological Trace Element Research (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Agricultural and Biological Sciences › Aquatic Science › Seaweed-derived Bioactive Compounds
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism › Thyroid Disorders and Treatments
- Life Sciences › Agricultural and Biological Sciences › Food Science › Food and Agricultural Sciences
- Keywords
- iodine, edible seaweeds, Undaria pinnatifida, kombu, Laminaria ochroleuca, iodine intake, hyperthyroidism, goiter, geographical origin, sodium thiosulfate titration, recommended daily intake
- MeSH terms
- Europe, Humans, Iodides, Iodine, Seaweed, Undaria
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review
