Introduction:

Iodine is a component of thyroid hormones participating in cell metabolism, growth and neurodevelopment.

Objective:

To review the most relevant aspects of iodine nutrition and its relation to maternal and child health.

Methods:

51 original and review articles were recovered and referenced in Pubmed, LILACS and SciELO databases, in accordance with the stated objective.

Results:

Maintaining adequate iodine intake allows normal thyroid functioning. If this fails to happen, the gland will show compensatory changes in its activity. In pregnancy there is a significant increase in iodine requirements to meet maternal and fetal needs. In addition to those related to pregnancy, there are factors that modify iodine metabolism, such as maternal and gestational age, parity, ethnicity and smoking habits. Both, iodine deficiency and iodine excess can cause effects on maternal and child health.

Conclusions:

During pregnancy, optimal iodine nutrition is essential to ensure the health maintenance of the pregnant woman and the adequate development of the pregnancy product.