ReviewThe American journal of clinical nutrition2017
Excess iron intake as a factor in growth, infections, and development of infants and young children.
Review in The American journal of clinical nutrition, 2017. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 71 papers, 5 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
71 citing papers in PubMed, 5 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 154 citations in OpenAlex.
- Systematic review on supplementation, fortification, and food-based interventions for preventing iron deficiency anemia in low- and middle-income countries.Asia Pacific journal of clinical nutrition · 2025Pooled it
- Nutrition-specific interventions for preventing and controlling anaemia throughout the life cycle: an overview of systematic reviews.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2021Pooled it
- Breastfeeding in Cystic Fibrosis: A Systematic Review on Prevalence and Potential Benefits.Nutrients · 2021Pooled it
- Acknowledging the gap: a systematic review of micronutrient supplementation in infants under six months of age.Wellcome open research · 2020Pooled it
- Iron supplementation in preterm and low-birth-weight infants: a systematic review of intervention studies.Nutrition reviews · 2019Pooled it
- Enteral iron dose effect on iron storage, intestinal barrier, and gut microbiome in preterm infants: a randomized clinical trial.The American journal of clinical nutrition · 2026Trial
- Trial
- Iron supplementation given to nonanemic infants: neurocognitive functioning at 16 years.Nutritional neuroscience · 2023Trial
- Development and evaluating the biopotency of ready to eat liver meat balls in fighting anaemia and vitamin A deficiency, improving selected nutritional biochemical indicators and promoting the cognitive function among mildly anaemic Egyptian children aged 3-9 years.Public health nutrition · 2022Trial
- Trial
- Trial
- A Fortified Food Can Be Replaced by Micronutrient Supplements for Distribution in a Mexican Social Protection Program Based on Results of a Cluster-Randomized Trial and Costing Analysis.The Journal of nutrition · 2019Trial
- Iron status and inherited haemoglobin disorders modify the effects of micronutrient powders on linear growth and morbidity among young Lao children in a double-blind randomised trial.The British journal of nutrition · 2019Trial
- Soya, maize and sorghum ready-to-use therapeutic foods are more effective in correcting anaemia and iron deficiency than the standard ready-to-use therapeutic food: randomized controlled trial.BMC public health · 2019Trial
- Iron Supplementation and Neurodevelopmental Outcomes in Infancy and Early Childhood: A Review.Children (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Review
- Cortisol Stress Response is Associated with Iron Status in Pregnancy.medRxiv : the preprint server for health sciences · 2026Article
- Time-Dependent Differences in the Human Milk Proteome After Preterm Birth: A Paired Two-Stage Proteomic Study.Nutrients · 2026Article
- Impact of oil fortification with iron in the prevention of anemia-A systematic review.Journal of education and health promotion · 2026Review
- Ferroptosis and hearing loss: from molecular mechanisms to therapeutic interventions.Journal of enzyme inhibition and medicinal chemistry · 2025Review
- The Effect of Quintuply-Fortified Salt on the Gut Microbiome of Young Children 1-5 y of Age in Punjab, India; A Substudy of a Randomized, Community-Based Trial.Current developments in nutrition · 2025Article
11 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
1 author at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
The provision of iron via supplementation or the fortification of foods has been shown to be effective in preventing and treating iron deficiency and iron deficiency anemia in infants and young children. However, iron is a pro-oxidative element and can have negative effects on biological systems even at moderate amounts. An increasing number of studies have reported adverse effects of iron that was given to infants and young-children populations who initially were iron replete. These effects include decreased growth (both linear growth and weight), increased illness (usually diarrhea), interactions with other trace elements such as copper and zinc, altered gut microbiota to more pathogenic bacteria, increased inflammatory markers, and impaired cognitive and motor development. If these results can be confirmed by larger and well-controlled studies, it may have considerable programmatic implications (e.g., the necessity to screen for iron status before interventions to exclude iron-replete individuals). A lack of understanding of the mechanisms underlying these adverse outcomes limits our ability to modify present supplementation and fortification strategies. This review summarizes studies on the adverse effects of iron on various outcomes; suggests possible mechanisms that may explain these observations, which are usually made in clinical studies and intervention trials; and gives examples from animal models and in vitro studies. With a better understanding of these mechanisms, it may be possible to find novel ways of providing iron in a form that causes fewer or no adverse effects even when subjects are iron replete. However, it is apparent that our understanding is limited, and research in this area is urgently needed.
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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.