Iron supplementation does not affect copper and zinc absorption in breastfed infants.

What Was Tested

Researchers studied Vitamin D, K2, Magnesium and Zinc and Copper (Supplement) in this randomized controlled trial publication.

The objective of this study was to investigate potential effects of iron supplementation, infant age, and mineral status on zinc and copper absorption in infants at 6 and 9 mo of age.

Who Took Part

By PubMed's age tags, the people studied were infants, both men and women.

Twenty-five healthy breastfed term infants were recruited from a larger randomized iron supplementation trial.

How the Study Was Run

In design terms this was a randomized and placebo-controlled study.

The participants were allocated by chance, so the Vitamin D, K2, Magnesium and Zinc group and the comparison group should start out alike.

Some participants received a placebo instead of Vitamin D, K2, Magnesium and Zinc, giving a reference point.

Zinc and copper absorption was measured at 6 and 9 mo of age, using orally administered (70)Zn and (65)Cu and fecal monitoring of recovered stable isotopes.

What Was Measured

The subject headings attached to it are Age Factors, Breast Feeding, Copper, Dietary Supplements, Erythrocytes, Feces and Ferrous Compounds.

What This Means in Plain Language

The paper is a randomized and placebo-controlled study of Vitamin D, K2, Magnesium and Zinc and Copper (Supplement).

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 2009 (The American journal of clinical nutrition), a journal based in United States.

More context: the Vitamin D, K2, Magnesium and Zinc compound page and the Copper (Supplement) compound page, all human trials.