verb
- causing or tending to cause cretinism (a condition of severe physical and mental underdevelopment resulting from congenital iodine deficiency)
Usage: medical/technical; present participle or adjective form of 'cretinize'
Examples
- Iodine deficiency during pregnancy can have cretinizing effects on the developing fetus.
- The cretinizing impact of untreated thyroid disease in infants was well documented in early medical literature.
- Public health campaigns aimed to prevent cretinizing conditions through salt iodization programs.
- Severe malnutrition combined with iodine deficiency created cretinizing circumstances in isolated populations.