Iodized mineral water developed

There’s a new health product now in the market: iodized mineral water.

Commercially named HI-IQ, it was developed by the Pililla Poultry Processing Plant, Inc. in Pililla, Rizal, through its Iodised Mineral Water, Inc. (IMWI). It was among those exhibited at the Philippine Trade and Training Center along Roxas Boulevard in Pasay City during the recent celebration of this year’s National Inventors’ Week (NIW).

HI-IQ has been certified by the Department of Health (DOH) and Department of Science and Technology (DOST).

IMWI-PPOPI has developed the Rapid Multi-Media Filtration System (MMMFS) of filtering water from shallow or deep wells to make it potable.

The addition of iodine to the filtered water can help boost the government’s effort to minimize the prevalence of iodine deficiency disorder (IDD) among the people and also improve the intelligence quotient of children.

Goiter is the most visible manifestation of IDD. If a diet is devoid of iodine, the thyroid gland enlarges to step up production of the thyroid hormones, resulting in an unsightly lump in the neck (goiter).

To the yet unborn (fetus), severe iodine deficiency can bring about spontaneous abortion, stillbirth, and cretinism (permanent brain and physical damage). To an infant, child, and adult, it results in goiter, brain damage, mental and physical retardation, loss of energy, and impaired function.

A nationwide survey done by the DOST-Food and Nutrition Research Institute (FNRI) and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) showed that 36 of every 100 children from six to 12 years old have iodine deficiency. – Rudy A. Fernandez