A longitudinal study of iron status in children at 12, 24 and 36 months

Abstract

Infants born to anaemic mothers or mothers who smoke and infants who consume cows' milk during infancy are at increased risk of developing anaemia. Breast milk is the ideal, but for the infant who is not breast fed an iron fortified formula should be used. Advice to mothers should focus on the importance of introducing nutrient dense complementary foods, such as meat, which contains readily absorbable iron.

Iron status at 12 months of age — effects of body size, growth and diet in a population with high birth weight

“…The negative effect of increased growth on iron status indices has been reported in several studies (Freeman et al, 1998;Morton et al, 1988;Sherriff et al, 1999). In the present study, no association was seen between birth weight or birth length and iron status at 12 months, which is in line with some other findings (Engelmann et al, 1998b;Wharf et al, 1997), but the Euro-Growth study reported a positive association between birth weight and iron stores at 12 months (Male et al, 2001;Persson et al, 1998).…”

“…The negative association shown in the present study between iron status indices and cow's milk consumption has been reported in many other studies (Freeman et al, 1998;Gill et al, 1997;Michaelsen et al, 1995). This strong association has led to the widespread recommendation that cow's milk should be avoided as infants' main drink until the age of 12 months.…”

“…A fall in ferritin concentration can be expected between the ages of 6 and 18 months when iron demands for growth exceed intake (Stevens & Nelson, 1995), and it could be hypothesized that the ferritin values would be lower in the Danish infants if they had been measured at the age of 12 months. With a higher cut-off value (Hb < 110 g=l), 2.6% of Irish infants were anaemic (with other haematological values also low; Freeman et al, 1998). In a Swedish study, 26% of 12-month-old infants were defined as iron depleted (SF < 12 mg=l; Persson et al, 1998), while 41% of infants in the present study met this criterion.…”

Iron deficiency and risk factors for lower iron stores in 6–24-month-old New Zealanders

“…In New Zealand, caregivers are actively encouraged to delay the introduction of cows' milk until after 12 months of age, as reflected in the marked reduction (50%) in iron intakes observed comparing nonbreastfeeding infant and toddler diets in this study (Soh et al, 2001). This practice might also be the reason as to why ferritin was not associated with the introduction of cows' milk before 12 months of age, unlike what has been observed in other countries (Michaelsen et al, 1995;Wharf et al, 1997;Freeman et al, 1998;Male et al, 2001). The lack of association between socioeconomic variables and ferritin is also in contrast to observations in several other countries (Thane et al, 2000;Male et al, 2001), perhaps reflecting the relatively uniform infant/toddler dietary patterns observed across socioeconomic groups in the South Island of New Zealand (Soh et al, 2001).…”

“…Among young Australian and European Union children, prematurity, age, sex, ethnicity, growth rate, household socioeconomic status, maternal education levels and intakes of cows' milk and iron-fortified foods have been associated with iron status (Michaelsen et al, 1995;Emond et al, 1996;Wharf et al, 1997;Freeman et al, 1998;Oti-Boateng et al, 1998;Persson et al, 1998;Bramhagen & Axelsson, 1999;Sherriff et al, 1999;Bougle et al, 2000;Karr et al, 2001;Male et al, 2001). Of these, only ethnicity has been consistently reported in New Zealand (Caucasian4 non-Caucasian) (Akel et al, 1963;Moyes et al, 1990), in part, because small study sample sizes have precluded any indepth analyses of multiple risk factors.…”