ABSTRACT
The development of stable-isotope techniques to study metabolism of trace elements has provided much-needed tools to implement studies in vulnerable segments of the population such as infants and pregnant or lactating women. The major advantage of stable-isotope techniques is that they can be used without introducing any risk to the study subjects. Longitudinal studies to investigate changes in trace element metabolism, for example, changes in
iron metabolism after treatment with erythropoietin in preterm infants or trace element metabolism during pregnancy and lactation, have been made with repeated administrations of stable-isotope labels.
