29. On an educational trip to Uttaranchal, Ketki and her friends observe that many local people were having swollen necks, Please help Ketki and her friends to find out the solutions to the following questions.

(a) which probable disease are these people suffering from?

(b) How is it caused?

(c) What effect does this condition have on pregnancy?

 

(a) People with swollen necks are suffering from goitre due to deficiency of iodine in the their bodies.
(b) lodine is essential for the synthesis of thyroid hormones-T3 and T4 which are iodinated forms of tyroxine. Deficiency of iodine in our diet results in hypothyroidism and enlargement of the thyroid gland occurs place.
(c) Hypothyroidism during pregnancy causes defective development and abnormalities in growing baby like stunted growth (cretinism) mental retardation, low intelligence quotient (IQ) abnormal skin, deafmutism, etc.