Supplements

Name

December 5 , 2008

Multivitamins

An Article Summary

Iron deficiency is fairly common in childhood and leads to many cases of anemia in young children . Paul L . Geltman , et al , opens the article with an explanation of the prevalence of iron deficiency as well as the dangers associated with it . Iron deficiency can cause cognitive impairment and it is often irreversible . Further , iron deficiency affects up to 9 of children aged 1 to 2 years in the United States and anemia affects 3 of children in the same age group

. As a result , the authors proposed that a multivitamin may be affective in preventing iron deficiency and anemia . The study included healthy , full term infants who were given a series of multivitamins . The double blind randomized trial allowed on group of infants to receive iron as part of the multivitamin while the other group did not receive iron . These were given to infants by mouth every day for three months (Geltman , et al , 2004 , 86 . At the conclusion of the study , the authors comment that the multivitamins did not reduce the prevalence of either iron deficiency or anemia . Instead they discovered that iron deficiency or anemia present in the mother during pregnancy did have an affect on the levels of iron deficiency and anemia in young children (Geltman , et al , 2004 , 90

This study has valuable implications for pediatricians across the country . The discovery that multivitamins containing iron do not have a positive affect on childhood iron deficiency or anemia...