Iron toxicity in DS has been discussed elsewhere on this site. Because of this toxicity, iron is not included in Nutrivene-D. For this reason I also avoid any foods for my daughter that are “fortified” with iron.
Now, today I received private correspondence asking whether children with DS usually are low in iron. I don’t know what those statistics are, so I’m taking this opportunity to try out the poll feature that WordPress offers. There are two polls. The first asks about blood levels. The second asks whether your child is receiving supplemental iron, either by fortified formula, fortified foods, or MSBPlus, or other vitamin supplement.
If you have other comments about iron, please post those in the comments.
Filed under: biocchemistry, nutrition | Tagged: Down Syndrome, iron
David was low in iron when i first had him tested at 18 mos. He was also low in other things. We supplemented those items and didn’t make much progress until we put him on the SCD. When he began absorbing better we stopped the iron supplement as his levels came up but continue to supplement other things using nutrivene, extra selenium and zince, etc.
Hannah (11) has always had ferritin and iron/TIBC labs done annually. She has always had normal results. My understanding was that we wanted to stay in the lower end of the range since the Ds metabolism has difficulty excreting excess iron. Or am I confused about this?
I took the poll, but my answer is a little more complicated.
My daughter,Goldie is 2 now. When she was 12 months we had her iron checked and it was normal. (The DS clinic was worried I wasn’t giving her fortified baby cereal, only real food and breastmilk.) At 18 months her iron was low. This was caused by blood loss in her GI tract due to a dairy protein intolerance. I gave her iron rich foods combined with vit C rich foods and an iron supplement. I gave the iron supplement once a day, not three times as we had been instructed. In 3 months I had her iron checked and it was just above the normal range. We immediately stopped supplementing with iron. At 24 months we checked again and it is at the very top of the normal range.
I would say if a child’s iron is low the parent should look for a cause,not just a treatment. We continue to keep her dairy free.
hi, Beth, it’s not difficulty excreting excess iron that’s the concern.
There’s too much oxidation happening in people with Down syndrome, to the 50% increase of the SOD-1 gene –and not enough natural antioxidants like Glutathione produced to keep up.
In the presence of even a little unbound iron –which is easily oxidized– this reaction will be even more problematic. This is why antioxidants help brain function… they lower the peroxide in the cell membranes and keep cell death from happening as quickly…but excess iron defeats this chemistry.
This is another reason we want to STAY AWAY from Tylenol as it (further) depletes glutathione. Same goes for Autistic kids (who are also typically very deficient in antioxidents and glutathione) see http://www.gotdownsyndrome.net/glutathione&acetaminophen.html and http://www.lleichtman.org/tni.shtml and http://www.healthresearch.com/cognitive.htm
best,
Liora