Toddlers and infants are vulnerable to the deficiency of iron, owing to the natural diet, which has lower iron content. The iron requirements are known to be unusually higher owing to faster growth. The iron endowment during birth is known to supply the iron, which is essential for growth. As the iron endowment gets exhausted at about 4-6 months, the dietary iron is considered the sole resource of iron for growth.
Staples of toddler and infant diet are inclusive of cow-s milk, fruits, vegetables, breast milk, as they contain low iron content. Without iron fortification, it is challenging for toddlers and infants to procure adequate iron intake. Though iron-fortified foods, like infant formulas and cereals, are available, you can not use them for cultural and economic reasons.
IDA or Iron Deficiency Anemia is considered to be the most common type of anemia. You can avail iron from specific kinds of foods. The bodies make the right use of the iron to produce hemoglobin, thereby bringing oxygen to different cells within the body. As the iron content becomes low, it might have a plethora of harmful impacts on the body.
IDA has different symptoms, including headache, poor appetite, weakness, pale skin, fatigue, impaired growth, unusual food cravings, irritability, impaired development, and growth. IDA might lead to different kinds of behavioral issue and developmental delays in children. In this article, you can gain an understanding of the role of fresh cow’s milk in iron deficiency:
Reasons why the excessive intake of milk leads to anemia
The most common iron deficiency causes in children are poor solid intake and excessive intake of milk. Milk boasts of different qualities, such as vitamin D, calcium, protein. But, milk substitutes and milk are not the best choices for kids with anemia and iron deficiency for different reasons. The milk substitutes and milk are recognized to be poor iron sources.
Milk interferes with the body’s capabilities for the absorption of iron from different kinds of food supplements. Intaking of cow milk can result in the intestines losing blood in loser small amount. As the blood gets lost, the ion gets lost with it. Excessive milk intake can result in the kids consuming lesser solid foods, owing to the liquid fill-up.
Lower iron content in cow milk
Cow milk boosts the iron content by about 0.5 mg/L. It is not possible for cow milk to accomplish the iron requirements of toddlers and infants, irrespective of the amount of cow milk intake by your little one. The growing infants are known to have the net iron gain of about 0.7 mg daily. The toddler requires iron in about 11mg daily. With the availability of iron from cow milk, the infant would ingest cow milk of about 14 Liter daily to accomplish different kinds of iron needs.
Hence, you can rely on cow milk to accomplish the iron needs of your toddlers and infants. Instead, toddlers and infants depend on iron supplements and food to accomplish the body’s demands for iron. The formulas are known to have the higher concentration of iron, between 6-12 mg per litre, which helps in accomplishing the iron needs of your little one in no time. Vegetables and fruits are known to have lower iron content. The meal containing and meal infant foods comprise of irons in appreciable amount.
Iron absorption inhibition by the cow milk
The non-heme iron absorption is known to constitute the major part of the dietary iron, which gets subjected to the inhibition of different substances, which are common in the diet, which includes calcium, casein.
The calcium and casein are predominant in the CM in the higher concentration than the human milk. The absorption of iron from human milk is known to be 37.3 per cent. However, in cow milk, the iron content is about 15.5 per cent. Cow milk is loaded with casein content and calcium, which have an adverse effect on the availability of iron in a modest amount.
Cow's milk in iron fortification
Cow milk is regarded as a substantial resource of minerals and proteins. It plays a crucial role in promoting the overall nutrition of young children and infants. Speaking of the countries, the government offers cow milk to the low-income population at the least cut off from the pocket. The cow milk’s iron content is known to detract from the cow milk value as the nutritional stable.
The cow milk fortification with the iron content is known to offset the negative impacts of cow milk upon iron metabolism. Besides this, fortification is known to reap the benefits of the use of cow milk. The cow milk iron fortification is known to be technically feasible. It does not have any impact upon the milk’s organoleptic properties.
The iron-fortified cow milk is known to be effective in decreasing the prevalence of ID and anemia. The cow milk’s iron fortification is interlinked with improved iron nutritional status than the unfortified CM. Due to electrolyte and higher protein content, cow milk’s renal solute load is known to be about three times higher than human milk. Besides this, the higher renal solute load results in higher urine osmolar concentration.
Consumption of cow milk by toddlers and infants is known to negatively impact iron stores. Different mechanisms are recognized, which contribute to the deficiency of iron. Cow milk fortification offers protection to toddlers and infants against the negative impact of iron against cow milk.
Hence, you should ensure not to feed unfortified and unmodified cow milk to the milk. Instead, you should make sure to feed it to the toddlers in the modest amount. Primary anemia prevention in toddlers and infants are known to hinge on different healthy feeding practices. Cow milk is known to possess four times more calcium than human milk, leading to lower iron absorption.
Hence, you should be aware of how the raw milk plays an important role for people with iron deficiency. But are you not aware of where to get the fresh and raw cow milk? Kabilai farm in Chennai offers the best raw cow milk with no added preservatives. They are just the pure raw a2 milk available in Chennai. Adding it to your daily routine will definitely give you a healthy living.
