Re: Re: Difficulty sleeping could be iron defficiency

[Guest guest]

another cause of iron deficiency even with supplemental iron could be that the

body is not absorbing the iron due to low vit b-12 and/or folic acid. this is

especially true with asian, american indian, and some hispanic races whether

pure or watered down with other ethnic backgrounds.

b-12 found in dairy, fish, and liver & kidney (ick!).

folic acid found in liver and green leafy veggies - and now cheetos!

and, since calcium is absorbed better with iron, i wonder if it's really an

iron deficiency or if it's calcium deficiency... since calcium has been

connected to reducing insomnia.

a little gross but - you can sometimes guess that there's too much iron if the

stool is really dark (also come with constipation at this point) and not enough

iron if it's really light in color.

asccnagla wrote:

This is an interesting study, but I have to wonder about the children

that get iron supplementation and continue to show iron deficiency.

Another thing I worry about is that many of these kids have a hard

time shedding heavy metals hence the need for chelation to detoxify

mercury, lead and aluminum. How does iron supplementation play into

that scenario?

Iron is very toxic to the liver and kidneys so any supplementation

needs to be monitored carefully.

For myself, I found that food based iron from Mega Food brand

vitamins was easier to absorb and did not upset my stomach or cause

bowel problems (iron tends cause stomach problems and constipation).

Nagla

>

> I thought this study might interest some of you since I've heard

many talk

> about sleep difficulties in our children.

> Gaylen

>

> Children with autism: effect of iron supplementation on sleep and

ferritin.

>

> Dosman CF, JA, Drmic IE, Senthilselvan A, Harford MM,

RW,

> Sharieff

>

> W, Zlotkin SH, Moldofsky H, SW.

>

> Pediatr Neurol. 2007 Mar;36(3):152-Pe

>

> Developmental-Developmental-<WBR>Behavioral Pediatrics, Glenrose

Rehab

>

> Department of Pediatrics, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta,

Canada.

>

> _cdosman@..._ (mailto:cdosman@...)

>

> To determine if there is a relationship between low serum ferritin

and sleep

>

> disturbance in children with autism spectrum disorder, an 8-week

open-label

>

> treatment trial with oral iron supplementation was conducted as a

pilot

> study.

>

> At baseline and posttreatment visits, parents completed a Sleep

Disturbance

>

> Scale for Children and a Food Record. Blood samples were obtained.

> Thirty-three

>

> children completed the study. Seventy-seven percent had restless

sleep at

>

> baseline, which improved significantly with iron therapy,

suggesting a

>

> relationship between sleep disturbance and iron deficiency in

children with

>

> autism spectrum disorder. Sixty-nine percent of preschoolers and

35% of

>

> school-aged children had insufficient dietary iron intake. Mean

ferritin

>

> increased significantly (16 microg/L to 29 microg/L), as did mean

> corpuscular

>

> volume and hemoglobin, suggesting that low ferritin in this patient

group

>

> resulted from insufficient iron intake. Similar prevalence of low

ferritin

> at

>

> school age as preschool age indicates that children with autism

spectrum

>

> disorder require ongoing screening for iron deficiency.

>

> PMID: 17352947 [PubMed - in process]

>

>

>

>

>

> ************************************** See what's free at

http://www.aol.com.

>

>

>