Iron deficiency anemia--Part-II (etiopathogenesis and diagnosis).

(a) Decreased iron intake may be due to inadequate diet or impaired absorption. Inadequate diet In infancy, iron deficiency is most often the result of use of unsupplemented milk diets which contain inadequate amounts of iron. Milk products are very poor source of iron and prolonged breast or bottle feeding of the infant frequently leads to iron deficiency, unless there is iron supplementation. This is especially true for premature infants.