Iodine content of vegetables of Varanasi and its correlation with physico-chemical properties of soils

Iodine, one of the most important essential nutrient elements for human health and is an essential component of the thyroid hormones (thyroxin and triiodothyronin). Human body cannot synthesize iodine itself. Thus, the people depend on food materials for their iodine requirement. The present work was under taken to study the amount of iodine present in the most common consuming food vegetables, generally grown in district Varanasi and distributed form certain randomly selected vegetable markets of Varanasi. In addition, correlation of coefficient between iodine content of soil with vegetables were analyzed. The mean iodine concentration in the vegetables of Varanasi was 4.25 mg kg-1. The iodine content in leafy vegetable spinach was found highest and lowest in fruit vegetable, brinjal. The iodine content in tested vegetables was in order, spinach > radish > cabbage > carrot > brinjal. Its content in Ramnagar vegetables was highest followed by Kashividyapith, Pandeypur, Lanka and Sunderpr vegetables, respectively. The coefficient of correlation between iodine content of soils and vegetables was significant for spinach and cabbage and its content in remaining vegetables was higher with higher iodine in soil solution but statistically not riched up to the level of significance.