lls.

The body does not keep a reserve store of iron on hand as is the case
with calcium and phosphorus in the bone tissues, but must depend upon
the daily intake in food to supply its needs. The iron content of food
materials is not large, but a careful regulation of the iron bearing
foods (see Table on page 5) will make it easy to cover the demands of
the body with a material which has been found to do its work most
efficiently. Medicinal iron has received much attention in the
determination of the essential needs of the body. "Whether medicinal
iron actually serves as material for the construction of hemoglobin is
not positively known, but we have what appears to be a good evidence
that food iron is assimilated and used for growth and for regeneration
of the hemoglobin to much better advantage than are inorganic or
synthetic forms, and that when medicinal iron increases the production
of hemoglobin, its effect is more beneficial in proportion as food
iron is more abundant--a strong indication that the medicinal iron
acts by stimulation rather than as material for the construction of
hemoglobin." (Sherman)

The newborn infant has a store of iron already on hand, derived from
the mother through the placenta before birth. After the birth, and
through the nursing period, the child receives a certain amount of
iron from the mother's milk. This supply is not altogether reliable,
however, since any disturbance of the digestion will tend to
interfere with its absorption, and consequently deprive the organism
of what would otherwise be used for the building up of the blood
supply. Thus it is clearly indicated that the infant's safest source
of iron is from the mother during the pre-natal period. This supply
must necessarily come from her diet during this time, and is made
possible by regulating day by day the iron bearing foods in her
dietary. After the original store of iron is reduced to that of the
adult (after the child has tripled in birth-weight, generally at 12 or
13 months), and during the remainder of the growth period, it is very
necessary to regulate the iron-bearing food in the diet, in order to
insure the child of an adequate amount to cover the demands made by
the increasing blood supply.

VITAMINES

Up to a few years ago it was believed a complete diet should contain
an adequate amount of protein of a proper type, a sufficient amount of
calcium, phosphorus and iron, and enough carbohydrates and fats to