Multiple Biomarkers of Maternal Iron Predict Infant Cognitive Outcomes

ABSTRACT

This study examined relations between multiple measures of maternal iron status assessed 3 months post-partum, and infant processing speed (longest look during visual habituation), memory (novelty preference), attention (heart rate changes), and neural response variability (in auditory event-related potentials) at 3 and 9 months. Plasma iron was associated with 9-month novelty preference and longest look, and developmental changes in longest look. Hemoglobin predicted sustained attention, and both plasma iron and soluble transferrin receptors predicted neural response variability at 9 months. Improved maternal iron appears to have a positive impact on infant cognitive development even in a well-nourished, low-risk sample.

Acknowledgments

The authors thank our colleagues Laura Hubbs-Tait, John Colombo, and James Grice for their valuable contributions to this project. We also thank graduate students Afework Mulugeta, Ebtesam Senossi, Stephanie Hullman, Djibril Traore, Tabitha Valtr, Megan Gilchrist, and Emily Wegener for data collection and processing, as well as the many undergraduates for their contributions. We especially thank the mothers and infants who participated.

Funding

This research was supported by the National Research Initiative Grant 2008-35200-18779 from the USDA National Institute for Food and Agriculture to DGT and TSK.

Additional information

Funding

This research was supported by the National Research Initiative Grant 2008-35200-18779 from the USDA National Institute for Food and Agriculture to DGT and TSK.