Iron fortified formula can lead to lower IQ, study finds. A groundbreaking study by American scientists has found that"iron-fortified" infant formula can lead to neuro-developmental delaysin healthy children. The extensive study, conducted on nearly 500 Chilean infants and spanning 10 years, found that by the age of 10,healthy infants who had been fed iron-rich formula scored lower
on every neurological tests used by the researchers. These included tests for
spatial memory, visual motor integration, IQ, visual perception and motor
coordination. The high-iron group had lower scores "on every outcome," said Dr.
Betsy Lozoff, the principal researcher. These included tests for spatial memory,
visual motor integration, IQ,visual perception and motor coordination. There was
an 11-point difference in IQ scores between the low-iron and high-iron groups.The
babies in the study who were not fed iron-fortified formula were fed regular
formula. Given the importance of breastfeeding for healthy cognitive development,
it is expected that the demonstrated differences in outcomes would have been even
greater had the iron-fortified group been compared with breastfed children. While
iron-fortified formula was said to have some benefits for iron-deficient babies,
those with sufficient iron levels appeared tobe adversely affected. Iron
deficiency is not considered a problem formost infants in the industrialized
world. Breastmilk has been shown to provide infants with sufficient amounts of
iron even when mothers are undernourished."Most of us in the iron field would be
comfortable with formulas having less iron in them," said Dr. Michael Georgieff,
"[...] there may be potential toxicity in certain groups consuming a
high-iron formula."Many formula labels carry messages like "iron fortified" or
"infant formula with iron." These messages appeal to parents who have long been
told children benefit from receiving iron. In light of this new study, such
marketing tactics appear highly irresponsible. Clearly,formula companies have
never taken the time to investigate the potential impact of high-iron formulas on
healthy children, and have been marketing iron-fortified products to the general
public for years with no warning of its consequences. Unless formula companies
change their marketing in light of this evidence, they will be
knowingly endangering the cognitive development of the infants who consume
their products.
Study: Neurodevelopmental Delays Associated With
Iron-FortifiedFormula for Healthy Infants, Lozoff et. Al.Presented at PAS 2008:
Pediatric Academic Societies and Asian Society forPediatric Research Joint
Meeting
makes me just want to pump and donate- poor kids.
3 comments:
Also makes you wonder about the blanket recommendations to give babies iron drops...
Iron is also hard to absorb without a sufficient amount of other minerals so it must be taxing to the baby's system to intake such high levels.
K always had such a hard time with formula. I suspect dairy and iron as the major culprit. The docs recommended us give her the iron drops while we had breastfed. She vomited just about every time we gave her the iron drops (staining everything), and after we stopped nursing moved to formula it was all of the time after feedings. Spit up domain.
Just our experience.
Formulas have made having babies:
#1. Expensive
#2. Messy with Spit up
#3. Ultra stinky newborn diapers.
#4. a nuisance
NO wonder folks are only have 1-2 per (most) families. They can hardly stand the hassle from the beginning.
i'm pretty sure henry was on iron formula from 7 months on. it sure was a hassle. from washing the bottles to the stank of the bottle fed diaper. i looooove the way frances' breath smells(maybe that's why they called the flower "baby's breath). i remember henry's breath smelling like a dinosaur's. i think it's probably hard to form an attachment with something that smells fowl from the get go. there are so many reasons to breastfeed- i can't even begin to count them all.
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