Iron supplementation of the diet in full-terminfants: A controlled study

Abstract

To determine the clinical and laboratory effects of medicinal iron supplementation,602 healthy full-term infants were studied. Three hundred twenty-nine infants were given 30 mg. of elemental iron per day, and 273 were given a placebo. Fifty-five per cent of the original group completed the supplement program (11 months), and 46.5 per cent completed the total 18 months of the study period. Forty-one per cent were followed for a total of two years; these infants were evaluated in detail. No objective benefit from the iron medication was found, but a transient decrease in the serum iron saturation was noted in the placebo group. Side effects were minimal. Subjectively the mothers of the iron-supplemented group had less complaints about their children's sleep pattern or daytime irritability, and reported fewer illnesses. However, the more objective evidence of illnesses recorded in the infants' charts did not support this difference. It is our belief that normal healthy infants who readily accept solid food will not be subject to iron deficiency anemia and do not benefit from iron supplementation.