Iron lack a factor in school problems?

Press, 20 December 1986, Page 40

Iron lack a factor in school problems?

PA Dunedin Iron deficiency might be a big reason why Maori and Pacific Island children generally do badly at school, says Professor John Birkbeck, director of the New Zealand Nutrition Foundation. There had been several reports of a high prevalence of iron deficiency in young children, especially among non-white children in South Auckland, he said in a letter to the “New Zealand Medical Journal.” “Before we ascribe the educational, or the health problems of non-white New Zealand children exclusively to social disadvantage compounded by insensitivity to cultural differences, we should consider whether nutritional disadvantages, and specifically iron deficiency, may not be major contributory factors.”

Professor Birkbeck said Maori and Pacific Island children do seem, in general, to achieve lower ratings in the New Zealand education assessment system, but the reasons were probably more complex than were commonly believed.

Poor Maori health had been well documented and the possibility that educational disadvantage and health disadvantage might signify common factors was usually overlooked, he said.

A recent editorial in the “British Medical Journal” drew attention to increasing evidence that iron deficiency could result in impaired intellectual performance, specifically in schoolchildren, he said. “This is a further reminder to health professionals that iron deficiency does not equal

anaemia.” A recent study in Indonesia showed that iron deficient children had impaired scholastic performance. Giving iron reduced the deficit rapidly. Other studies in different parts of the world were also quoted. In New Zealand, said Professor Birkbeck, there was insufficient evidence about what Maori and Pacific Island children ate.

But he suggested economics and personal preferences might work against an adequate intake of iron-rich foods, particularly lean meats.