The influence of fruit and vegetable feeding upon the iron metabolism of the infant

Abstract

Summary 1.A study of the iron metabolism of three normal infants, ranging in age from five weeks to seven months, has shown that vegetable (spinach) or fruit (apricots) feeding in addition to the milk formula exerts no significant effect upon the amount of iron retained by the infant. Such feeding increased the iron intake 60 to 171 per cent. The hemoglobin concentration and the number of erythrocytes in the blood were within or above the normal range for infants of this vicinity and age, and were not raised by the vegetable or fruit feeding. 2.A study of the effect of such feeding upon an anemic infant, twenty-three months old, who had been living on an almost exclusive milk diet, has shown a lack of effect in the case of dried spinach, but a marked increase in retention of iron when apricots were added to the diet, an effect which disappeared again after wheat germ extract was also included. The effect in each case is related to the amount of fecal matter eliminated in the metabolism period. We prefer to with-hold interpretation until more data are available. The hemoglobin concentration and erythrocyte count of the blood were not improved during the course of such feeding. 3.A very large increase in the concentration of soluble iron in the diet of the anemic infant, brought about by adding ferric ammonium citrate, resulted in a large increased retention of iron, but up to the end of three weeks on the diet, only a very slight increase in the number of erythrocytes had occurred and practically no change in hemoglobin concentration. 4.When the diet of the anemic infant was further supplemented by liver, the retention of iron was increased still more. The retention in this instance was accompanied by a rise in hemoglobin from 6.0 to 9.1 Summary 1.A study of the iron metabolism of three normal infants, ranging in age from five weeks to seven months, has shown that vegetable (spinach) or fruit (apricots) feeding in addition to the milk formula exerts no significant effect upon the amount of iron retained by the infant. Such feeding increased the iron intake 60 to 171 per cent. The hemoglobin concentration and the number of erythrocytes in the blood were within or above the normal range for infants of this vicinity and age, and were not raised by the vegetable or fruit feeding. 2.A study of the effect of such feeding upon an anemic infant, twenty-three months old, who had been living on an almost exclusive milk diet, has shown a lack of effect in the case of dried spinach, but a marked increase in retention of iron when apricots were added to the diet, an effect which disappeared again after wheat germ extract was also included. The effect in each case is related to the amount of fecal matter eliminated in the metabolism period. We prefer to with-hold interpretation until more data are available. The hemoglobin concentration and erythrocyte count of the blood were not improved during the course of such feeding. 3.A very large increase in the concentration of soluble iron in the diet of the anemic infant, brought about by adding ferric ammonium citrate, resulted in a large increased retention of iron, but up to the end of three weeks on the diet, only a very slight increase in the number of erythrocytes had occurred and practically no change in hemoglobin concentration. 4.When the diet of the anemic infant was further supplemented by liver, the retention of iron was increased still more. The retention in this instance was accompanied by a rise in hemoglobin from 6.0 to 9.1