Background and Objectives: Iodine deficiency disorders have been one of the main health-nutritional problems in Iran for many years. Prior to the iodine-supplementation program, Ardabil province was one of the regions with endemic goiter in Iran. The program of control and prevention of iodine deficiency has been performed here since 1989 through production, distribution and consumption of iodized salt. This study was performed in 2001 on 7-10 years-old pupils of Ardabil as a part of national monitoring survey of iodine deficiency control.

 Methods: In a cross sectional- descriptive study, 1200 students (equal number of boys and girls) were selected randomly. The prevalence of goiter was determined by clinical examination and according to WHO classification. Urinary iodine content was determined in one tenth of the cases using digestion method.

 Results: Total goiter rate was 9.3 in all the subjects (10.7% in girls and 7.9% in boys). Median urinary iodine was 18.8µg/dl. In 80.7% of the cases urinary iodine was above 10µg/dl and was less than 5µg/dl in 4.2%. Urinary iodine below 2µg/dl was not observed.

 Conclusion: The results showed that the rate of goiter among pupils has significantly decreased since 1996 and urinary iodine levels in schoolchildren of Ardabil complied with WHO index. So, Ardabil province can be considered as an “iodine deficiency free” zone.

  Background & Objective: Advances in public health and control of infectious diseases have led to increased number of elderly people in the world including Iran. Thus serious concerns exist in terms of age-related diseases . Consequently, Iran’s ministry of health has chosen “ageing and health” as the theme for 2012 along with WHO. Psychological disorders�are among the most prevalent diseases in elderly people. Recent studies suggest a two-way relationship between some psychological disorders and insomnia. Also there is evidence implying magnesium role in improvement of aforementioned disorders. The objective of this study was to determine the effects of dietary magnesium supplementation on mental health in insomniac elderly subjects.

  Methods: A double-blind randomized clinical trial was conducted on 46 insomniac elderly subjects randomly allocated into the magnesium or the placebo group, receiving daily for 8 weeks either 500 mg magnesium or a placebo, respectively. SCL-90-R and ISI questionnaires were conducted at baseline and at the end of the intervention period. Serum magnesium and cortisol levels were also determined in the patients. In addition, information was obtained on anthropometric confounding factors and daily intake of magnesium, calcium, potassium and caffeine using 24-hr dietary recall questionnaire for 3 days. The N4 and SPSS19 were used for data analysis.

  Results: No significant differences were observed in assessed variables between the two groups at baseline. As compared to the placebo group, in the experimental group, dietary magnesium supplementation brought about statistically significant decreases in GSI, PST, PSDI, ISI scores as well as somatization , anxiety, psychoticism , and depression symptoms and serum cortisol concentration. While the obsessive-compulsive , interpersonal sensitivity, hostility , phobic anxiety, paranoid ideation scores and serum magnesium concentration were not different between the experimental and the placebo groups.

  Conclusion: In this study dietary magnesium supplementation resulted in improvements in insomnia severity index and some indices of mental health.