A LONGITUDINAL-STUDY OF THE INFLUENCE OF IRON STATUS ON MENTAL AND MOTOR DEVELOPMENT OF INFANTS AND TODDLERS

Thirty-two children were assessed for dietary, clinical, biochemical a nd anthropometric status at 6 months, 1 year and 2 years of age. Devel opment was assessed by the Bayley Scales of Infant Development (BSID) Index. Using a dietary history and record, dietary iron was estimated and compared to the National Food Consumption Survey (1985) and Recomm ended Dietary Allowances (RDA) loth edition. Daily iron intake decreas ed from 13.2 mg at 6 months to 10.3 mg iron at 1 year of age and 7.4 m g iron at 2 years of age. Iron intake and mental development were not related at statistically significant levels at any age. A stepwise mul tiple regression technique was employed to investigate the extent to w hich mental and motor development was explained with dietary variables , blood iron parameters and anthropometric measurements. Hematocrit co ncentration was the only variable which was consistently useful in pre dicting development at 1 and 2 years of age.