
Study
Explores New Mothers' Mineral NeedsBy Marcia Wood May 24, 2001A new investigation by
Agricultural Research Service scientists
at Davis, Calif., and their university colleagues will reveal more about mother
and baby's need for two essential nutrients--iron and zinc. Therapeutic doses of iron, but not of zinc, are routinely prescribed
worldwide for women to take throughout pregnancy and during the first few
months of breast-feeding, or lactation. However, research by Janet C. King,
director of the ARS Western Human Nutrition
Research Center at Davis, as well as by some scientists elsewhere, suggests
that iron supplements might interfere with zinc uptake and use late in
pregnancy and during the first three months of breast-feeding. Those are the times zinc is most needed for the baby's growth and the
mother's milk production, according to Concepcion Mendoza, a research associate
at the University of California at DavisDepartment of Nutrition. Mendoza is
coordinating the new iron-zinc study and is collaborating with King and with
colleagues at the Davis and Berkeley campuses of the University of California.
The scientists will work with three-dozen healthy, pregnant volunteers--all
non-smokers age 20 to 40--who plan to breast-feed their infants for at least 10
weeks. These volunteers will visit the nutrition center several times during
and after their pregnancy to provide information about the foods that they are
eating and to give samples of blood and other biological specimens. Some of the
volunteers will reside at a guest house near the Davis campus for several days
to eat meals prepared under the direction of the research staff. The research is funded by the National
Institutes of Health and by ARS, the USDA's chief scientific research agency. Scientific contact: Janet C. King, ARS Western Human Nutrition
Research Center, Davis, Calif., phone (530) 752-5268, fax (530) 752-5271,
[email protected]. Story contacts Western Human Nutrition Research Center Marcia A Wood U.S. Department of Agriculture |