Iron Supplementation in Infancy

An article in the September 2016 Natural Medicine Journal's Pediatric Special Issue by Lillian Au ND looked at the impact of supplemental iron in infancy.  The article looked at a study led by Angulo-Barroso et al that was published in the April 2016 issue of Pediatrics.  The study looked at over 1400 infants.  Half of the infants were dosed with iron from age 6 weeks to 9 months and the other half received a placebo.  The infants underwent developmental testing at age 9 months.  The infants who received the iron supplementation were found to have improved gross motor test scores compared to the infants who received the placebo.  The iron supplemented infants performed better on sitting upright, crawling, standing, and transitions from sitting to standing than the infants who received the placebo.  The information gathered from this study points to the importance of ensuring that infants (and breastfeeding mothers) have adequate iron levels and that integrating a separate iron supplement for infants is well indicated for long term motor and neurological development.