Iron Deficiency Tied to Cognitive Development of Infants
Babies born to obese mothers are at risk for iron deficiency:
Iron deficiency is the most common nutritional deficiency and the leading cause of anemia in the United States. Iron is a part of all cells and does many things in our bodies. For example, iron (as part of the protein hemoglobin) carries oxygen from our lungs throughout our bodies. Having too little hemoglobin is results in anemia. Iron also helps our muscles store and use oxygen. Iron is a part of many enzymes and is used in many cell functions. Enzymes help our bodies digest foods and also help with many other important reactions that occur within our bodies. When our bodies don’t have enough iron, many parts of our bodies are affected
Dr. Rodney Johnson, Professor of Nutritional Sciences from the University of Illinois and his co-workers have developed a model that uses neonatal piglets to study infant brain development and its effect on learning and memory.
To determine if the model is nutrient sensitive, they have done some research on the effects of iron-deficient diets.
According to Dr. Johnson, “Iron deficiency is a major problem worldwide. Infants who experience iron deficiency during the first 6-12 months of age can have irreversible developmental delays in cognition.” He said that even in the U.S., iron deficiency is a significant problem. “Babies born to obese mothers are at risk for iron deficiency,” Johnson said. “Furthermore, the incidence of (childhood) obesity is increasing, and being overweight or obese is a risk factor for iron deficiency. Overweight toddlers are nearly three times more likely to suffer from iron deficiency than are those with a healthy weight.”.
Iron compounds are quite sensitive to oxygen. They become rancid quite rapidly. By microencapsulating/encapsulating iron compounds the stability of iron compounds such as Ferrous Sulfate, Ferrous Gluconate, Ferrous Fumarate and others can be improved allowing their incorporation into different formulations and with excellent shelf stability.
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