Drops iron infant

Intrinsic factor regulates the amount of absorption of vitamin B-12 to about 1.5 to 3.0 meg daily. Absorption decreases with age (it drops to about 5% in the elderly), and with iron and vitamin B-6 deficiencies and it increases with pregnancy. Infant levels are approximately twice that of the mother. Also, absorption is greater if the vitamin is provided in three meals than if all of it is provided in a single meal. 

Dietary recommendations for infants are based on the iron content and bioavailability of human milk. The iron in infant formula is much less bioavailable (10%) than that of human milk and is thus present in greater concentrations than that of human milk. Infants who are not breast-fed should consume iron-fortified formula. Complementary foods offered after 6 months of age can potentially meet iron needs if they have a high content of meat and ascorbic acid. This is rarely the case in developing or developed countries, and fortified infant cereals and iron drops are often introduced at this time in developed countries. In developing countries where diets are poor in bioavailable iron, iron-fortified weaning foods are not commonly consumed, and iron supplements are rarely given to infants and children. 

The issue of bioavailability from food sources and the interactions between food groups and copper availability remains a critical question. Lonnerdal et al. demonstrated that heat treatment of cows milk formula decreases the copper bioavailability. Transitional complexes form in the milk upon heating that have a similar configuration to copper and thereby directly inhibit copper absorption. High doses of zinc also reduce copper bioavailability, as does combined iron and zinc supplementation. The dilemma is how to prepare an infant formula containing adequate copper, iron, and zinc that will meet the RDA for copper. Other nutrients dramatically affect copper absorption from foods. Soy protein-based diets promote less copper retention in tissues than lactalbumin-based diets. However, it is unclear if this effect is solely due to the soy protein composition or to the higher zinc in these soy-based formulas. In animals, phytate causes a drop in serum copper but human stable isotope studies reveal no... 

Infancy Iron supplementation in infants is sometimes advised to prevent iron deficiency, even in populations with a relatively low prevalence of iron-deficiency anemia. The US Institute of Medicine, for example, recommends iron drops for exclusively breast-fed infants between 4 and 6 months of age. There is ample evidence from well-designed and controlled studies to show that iron supplementation in infancy significantly improves hemoglobin and ferritin levels, and studies are currently investigating the impact of iron supplementation on dimensions of cognitive development. The benefits and risks of infant iron supplementation, however, remain... 

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