Infants who are breastfed and receive iron supplements show less aggressive behavior and fewer attention problems by the age of three compared to other children. This is the conclusion from a new study by researchers at Sweden’s Umeå University.
The experiment involved 221 healthy full-term infants from Sweden and Poland. Between the ages of four and nine months, half of them received a low daily dose of iron supplements, while the other half were given a placebo.
Three years later, experts assessed the children’s behavior. It turned out that the group that had received iron displayed notably lower levels of aggression, impulsivity, and concentration difficulties.
The challenge is that blood tests revealed no changes in iron levels among the children who took the supplements. So how can the improvement in behavior be explained?
The authors of the study note that, so far, there are no effective biomarkers capable of measuring the amount of iron available in the brain. An iron deficiency in the brain may develop before it is detected in the blood. This element is critical for the development and functioning of nerve cells.
The supplements may have specifically addressed this “brain” deficiency, but standard tests remained blind to the issue. The researchers plan to re-examine the same children at the age of eight to see if the positive effect persists. According to their hypothesis, enhancing iron availability during the crucial brain development period—the first three years of life—lays the foundation for more stable behavior in the long term.
Currently, it is known that one in five children under the age of five suffers from iron deficiency. The experts hope their work will help accelerate the development of guidelines for preventing serious behavioral problems in children.
However, they caution against recommending iron supplements to infants without further research that takes genetic factors and environmental influences into account.
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