Effect of timing of introduction of complementary foods on iron and zinc status of formula fed infants at 12, 24, and 36 months of age.

What Was Tested

This randomized controlled trial looks at Zinc.

The timing of introduction of complementary food to an infant's diet is variable throughout the world.

Their objective was to determine whether early introduction of complementary foods affects iron and zinc status of formulated infants at 12, 24, and 36 months of age.

Student t test and regression analyses were used to determine whether there were group differences and whether there was a relationship between serum parameters and dietary intake.

Who Took Part

PubMed indexes the participants as infants and young children, both men and women.

Infants were randomly assigned to receive either a) early introduction (at 3 to 4 months of age) of commercially prepared or parent's choice of complementary foods; or b) late introduction (at 6 months of age) of commercially prepared complementary foods or parent's choice of complementary foods.

In addition to complementary foods, infants were fed commercial infant formula as recommended by their pediatrician.

How the Study Was Run

The researchers set it up as a randomized study.

The participants were allocated by chance, so the Zinc group and the comparison group should start out alike.

A randomized, prospective trial was conducted.

Hemoglobin, mean corpuscular volume, and serum ferritin and zinc concentrations were determined at 12, 24, and 36 months of age.

Three-day diet diaries were completed at 3, 6, 12, 18, 24, 30, and 36 months of age.

One hundred seventy-five infants younger than 3 months were recruited by mailings to parents in the Cincinnati area.

Of these, 172 were enrolled, 90 in the early-introduction group and 82 in the late-introduction group.

What Was Measured

PubMed files the paper under topics including Age Factors, Body Composition, Diet Records, Erythrocyte Indices, Ferritins, Growth and Hemoglobins.

What This Means in Plain Language

The paper is a randomized study of Zinc.

Its findings take up roughly 7 sentences of the abstract and are left out here on purpose; the source paper is the place to read them.

The publication is from 2001 (Journal of the American Dietetic Association), a journal based in United States.

More context: the related Vitamin D, K2, Magnesium and Zinc library page, all human trials.