
PhD defence
Iron supplementation strategies in Gambian infants
Summary
Previous findings demonstrated that exclusively breastfed infants deplete their iron endowment by two months of age, persisting throughout the first year of life in rural Gambia. Additionally, iron supplementation using ferrous sulphate has been shown to be ineffective in improving the iron status of infants aged 6 to 23 months in settings with a high prevalence of inflammation. Therefore, the overarching goal of this thesis was to evaluate iron supplementation strategies to enhance the iron status of infants in rural Gambian settings.
In exclusively breastfed infants aged 6 weeks to 6 months, iron supplementation with ferrous sulphate was associated with improved iron status markers compared to placebo. In our second clinical trial, supplementation with haem iron polypeptide among infants between 6 and 12 months of age was not superior to ferrous sulphate with regard to haemoglobin and ferritin concentrations, our primary endpoints.