 Iodine is an essential micronutrient and an integral component of the thyroid hormones, needed for normal growth and development, particularly of the brain. Thyroid hormones play a critical role for development of the central nervous system from early fetal life until well after birth. Thyroid hormone insufficiency during postnatal development is associated with sensorimotor and language deficits and hypothyroidism in infancy is associated with poorer language, memory skills, fine motor, auditory processing, attention and executive processing. 