The Journal of nutrition
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The Journal of nutrition · Feb 2011
Randomized Controlled TrialDry cereals fortified with electrolytic iron or ferrous fumarate are equally effective in breast-fed infants.
Precooked, instant (dry) infant cereals in the US are fortified with electrolytic iron, a source of low reactivity and suspected low bioavailability. Iron from ferrous fumarate is presumed to be more available. In this study, we compared a dry infant rice cereal (Cereal L) fortified with electrolytic iron (54.5 mg iron/100 g cereal) to a similar cereal (Cereal M) fortified with ferrous fumarate (52.2 mg Fe/100 g) for efficacy in maintaining iron status and preventing iron deficiency (ID) in breast-fed infants. ⋯ Iron intake from the study cereals was (mean ± SD) 1.21 ± 0.31 mg⋅kg(-1)⋅d(-1) from Cereal L and 1.07 ± 0.40 mg⋅kg(-1)⋅d(-1) from Cereal M. Eleven infants had low birth iron endowment (plasma ferritin < 55 μg/L at 2 mo) and 54% of these infants had ID with or without anemia by 4 mo. We conclude that electrolytic iron and ferrous fumarate were equally efficacious as fortificants of this infant cereal.