Iron-deficient babies lag in motor skills, mental development
Tuesday, May 11, 2004
The Grand Rapids Press

A University of Michigan professor who has studied iron deficiency for 30 years found that babies who are iron deficient lag behind in motor skills and mental development, even when the deficiency is identified and treated.

Betsy Lozoff, director of the Center for Human Growth and Development at the University of Michigan, followed Costa Rican children diagnosed with severe, chronic iron deficiency when they were 12 to 23 months old. They were treated with iron supplements.

Her study showed gaps in mental and motor development for these children that persisted throughout childhood and adolescence.

Lozoff said it emphasizes the importance of preventing infant iron deficiency, which affects about 25 percent of infants worldwide, including many poor and minority children in the United States.

Babies typically get iron from their mothers during pregnancy and from their mothers' milk if they breastfeed. But their rapid growth demands more iron after the first four to six months.

Other foods infants eat, such as soft cereals, cow's milk and fruits, are poor sources of iron. In the United States, fortifying baby formula and cereals with iron has helped, but these fortified products aren't available internationally.