Anemia Research Today is a free monthly online journal that collates and summarizes the latest research about Anemia, including details on symptoms, diagnosis, diet, treatment, causes.

Effect of iron supplementation on cognition in Greek preschoolers.

Metallinos-Katsaras E, Valassi-Adam E, Dewey KG, Lönnerdal B, Stamoulakatou A, Pollitt E

Simmons College, Boston, MA 02132, USA. metallin@simmons.edu

OBJECTIVE: To examine effects of iron supplementation on vigilance, attention and conceptual learning in preschool children in Greece. DESIGN: Randomized Double-Blind Placebo Controlled trial of iron. Randomization stratified by iron status and day care center (DCC). SETTING: Nine public DCCs in Athens, Greece. SUBJECTS: In all, 49 3-4-y olds (21 anemic, 28 good iron status) with birth weight not less than 2500 g, currently healthy; benign past medical history, IQ > or =1 s.d. below the age-adjusted mean, serum Pb < or =200 ppb (none exceeded 50 ppb), and height, weight and head circumference for age > or =10th percentile. Anemia defined as: (1) pretreatment Hgb <112 g/l and TS <16% and ferritin <12 microg/L OR (2) Hgb rise of >10 g/l (T2-T0) with iron supplementation. Good iron status was defined as baseline levels of Hgb >120 g/l and either TS >20% or serum ferritin >12 microg/l. INTERVENTION: The intervention consisted of a 2-month supplementation of 15 mg iron (and MV) vs placebo (MV alone). RESULTS: After iron treatment, the anemic subjects made significantly fewer errors of commission (14% higher specificity, P<0.05), exhibited 8% higher accuracy (P<0.05) and were significantly more efficient (mean difference=1.09, P<0.05) than those given placebo. These effects of iron were not found among preschoolers with good iron status. No effects of iron treatment were found on the Oddity Learning task. CONCLUSIONS: This study demonstrated that iron supplementation of iron-deficient anemic preschoolers results in an improvement in discrimination, specifically selective attention.

Published 26 October 2004 in Eur J Clin Nutr, 58(11): 1532-42.
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