Practices of Introduction of Complementary Feeding and Iron Deficiency Prevention in the Middle East and North Africa.

Background: Iron deficiency (ID) with or without anemia is associated with impaired mental and psychomotor development. Given the paucity of information on physicians' knowledge and practices on iron (Fe) supplementation and impact of ID in the Middle East and North Africa, it was felt important to conduct a survey.

Method: A group of expert physicians developed a questionnaire that was randomly distributed among Middle East and North Africa doctors to assess their knowledge and practices on introduction of complementary feeding, impact of ID, its prevention, and their impression on prevalence of ID.

Chapter 4. The Relationship Between the European and North American Societies for Pediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition.

This chapter is based on the memories of those who shaped the relationship between the European and the North American Societies for Pediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition. The first joint meeting of the 2 Societies took place in Paris in 1978, followed by 1 in New York in 1985, 1 in Amsterdam in 1990, 1 in Houston in 1994, and the last one in Toulouse in 1998. The formation of the Federation of the International Societies for Pediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition (FISPGHAN) preceded the First World Congress of all Societies, which took place in Boston in 2000.

Intestinal permeability to lactulose and mannitol in growing rats with iron-deficiency anemia.

Iron deficiency can have nonhematological manifestations, some of which may affect the gastrointestinal tract. The aim of this study was to determine if iron-deficiency anemia in growing rats affected small-bowel permeability as assessed by the urinary ratio of lactulose and mannitol. Thirty-seven male Harlan Sprague-Dawley rats (21 d of age) were randomly divided into two groups and fed either an iron-deficient (n=19) or an iron-sufficient diet (n=18) that contained either 13.

Effect of orange and apple juices on iron absorption in children.

Objective: To measure iron absorption in children from meals containing apple juice or orange juice so as to determine if iron absorption will be greater with orange juice because of its higher ascorbic acid content than apple juice, a noncitrus fruit juice that US children reportedly prefer.

Design: On 2 successive days, children consumed identical meals that included apple juice on one day and orange juice on the other, in random order. The meals were labeled with iron-57 on one day and iron-58 on the other.

Carbohydrate digestion in humans from a beta-glucan-enriched barley is reduced.

Obese and diabetic patients may benefit from foodstuffs that are poorly absorbed and/or digested at a slower rate. Prowashonupana (PW) is a cultivar of barley, whose grains are enriched in beta-glucans, and thus may be less digestible than standard barley (barley cultivar (BZ) 594.35.

Feeding Problems in Infants and Children.

This article focuses on factors related to decreased food intake of infants and children, but does not address anorexia or bulimia nervosa. The nature of feeding problems may be behavioral, organic, or a mixture of both. Behavioral problems that affect intake have their roots in 1) parental or cultural expectations for food intake and body habit, 2) parental anxiety about weight gain in a vulnerable child or insecurity about parental skills, 3) power struggles between parent and child that manifest in eating habits, 4) conditions that may have enhanced the gag reflex, such as prolonged orotracheal intubation or a nasogastric tube, 5) failure to establish links between hunger, food intake, and satiety in infants who had not been fed orally for a relatively prolonged period of time at a critical age, and 6) anxiety or depression.