Functional Correlates of Nutritional Anemias in Infancy and Early Childhood — Child Development and Behavior

This chapter describes alterations in normal cognitive, social-emotional, and motor development as functional correlates of nutritional anemia in infants and young children. The primary focus will be on iron deficiency anemia, given its high prevalence. Evidence on short and long term outcomes from therapeutic and preventive trials and possible underlying mechanisms will be described. Nutritional anemias caused by deficiencies in vitamins and trace minerals other than iron will also be discussed in a separate section.