We conclude that in elderly well-nourished hospitalized patients with acute diseases prohibiting oral intake, continuous and closed enteral feedings with the addition of fiber is effective in reducing the rate of diarrhea.

Objective: To describe the secular trends in the prevalence rates of iron-de®ciency anemia (IDA) in infants in Israel, identify population group differences and assess the effectiveness of the 1985 Public Health directives on iron supplementation and avoidance of cow's milk in the ®rst year of life. Design: A systematic analysis of published and unpublished cross-sectional studies. Methods: IDA rates in 1-y-old infants between 1946 and 1997 were assessed from published papers and reports. Rates for Arab infants were available from 1984. Data on routine hemoglobin tests on 1-y-old infants for Arabs and Jews separately were obtained from four health districts for the period 1987 to 1997. Analyses were done for the periods prior to and following the Public Health directives. Results: The prevalence of IDA in Jewish infants declined from 68% in 1946 to 50% in 1985 at an average annual rate of 71.43%. Following the iron supplementation directives, the average annual rate of decline increased to 74.0% and reached a prevalence of about 11% in 1996. IDA rates in Arab infants declined by an annual average of 73.7%, and were consistently almost twice as high as for Jewish infants. Conclusions: Despite the contribution of the iron supplementation program to the reduction in IDA, the persistently high rates indicate inadequate iron content in the diet. This emphasizes the important role of a national food forti®cation program, using staple foods commonly consumed.