Abstract

The prevalence of goitre in 17 Himalayan villages has been estimated. Water-samples from each village were taken, and levels of iodine, fluoride, and hardness determined. In 13 villages wide variations in goitre prevalence were not attributable to differences in iodine intake, which remained constant within a narrow range. Instead, variations in goitre prevalence were found to correlate closely with the fluoride content (?=0·74; P<0·01) and with the hardness (?=0·77; P<0·01) of the water in each village. The effects of fluoride and water hardness seem to be independent.