HealthLink: Infant iron deficiency has long-term health consequences
The results of a National Institutes of Health study examining the long-term consequences of infant iron deficiency were recently published in three different journals. The study followed 185 Costa Rican children from age one to 19 years. Subjects that had chronic iron deficiency in infancy were compared with those who had good iron status. The children were enrolled at 12 to 23 months of age and those with acute or chronic health issues, preterm births or low birth weights were excluded. Infant iron-deficiency was associated with a long-term negative impact on motor and cognitive development as well as mother-child interaction as the children grew up, despite early iron therapy. These results underscore the importance of preventing iron deficiency in infancy.
All participants with iron deficiency received oral iron therapy in infancy to correct their iron deficiency anemia. However, those who were iron-deficient at the beginning of the study, had lower motor scores than the iron-sufficient group. The difference in motor scores remained constant when children were tested as infants, at age five and in early adolescence. The iron-deficient infants had consistently lower scores on cognitive tests as they aged compared to their iron-sufficient counterparts. This difference persisted over time to age 19. At age five, the children who were iron-deficient as infants also showed lower quality mother-child interaction on a number of tasks compared to children in the iron-sufficient group.
CONSUMER TIPS:
A nine month old baby needs more iron than an adult man. Babies need enough iron for healthy brain development. Iron deficiency in infancy may have a negative impact on mental ability even long after it is corrected.
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TO LEARN MORE SEE ABSTRACTS: Effects of iron deficiency in infancy on patterns of motor development
Human Movement Science
Archives of Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine
Journal of Behavioral and Developmental Pediatrics
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