Kevin Klatt, PhD, RD

While finishing my graduate dietetics coursework, i've taken a hiatus from nutrigenomics work and have delved into some breast milk analysis. The whole field of breast milk is extremely interesting, especially from an evolutionary perspective. For some great work on breast milk, from evolutionary perspectives, check out Elizabeth Quinn and Katie Hinde 's work. Elizabeth Quinn recently put out a paper in The Journal of Human Biology, addressing the issue of iron fortification in infant formula (1). Iron is a big area of concern for infant nutrition. Breast milk, the gold standard for infant nutrition, is quite low in iron, and this appears to be relatively unaffected by mother's intake. An infant relies on its own iron stores, that it accumulated during gestation, for the first 6 months of life - one of the many reason's a mother's adequate iron intake is so important throughout pregnancy. Iron is extremely important for normal growth of an infant. But why is ir...