AN:EMIA IN CONSEQUENCE OF MALNUTRITION, ETC.
Deficient or faulty nutrition is in infants a further cause of symp tomatic anemia; the somewhat complicated conditions are well described by Panum, Voit, Senator, Fr. Kicseritzky, and von liosslin. Absence of iron in the food seems to have a particularly injurious effect (Ehrlich-Lazarus). The severest results are probably produced during the period of active bone-formation toward the end of infancy and dur ing puberty. This also explains the anemia of infants who have been fed too long on an exclusive milk diet.. According to Runge the new born possess a comparatively large amount of iron; milk, however, is very poor in iron, so that the amount of iron stored up will only last for a certain time, after which the deficiency of iron will make itself felt.
This form of anaemia cannot be cured by medication; the appe tite should be stimulated and the necessary directions given for proper nutrition. Poor parents should be shown how the necessary quantity of calories, proteids and iron can be furnished in the cheapest way; to the rich it should be explained that lean meat alone is not sufficient as food, that an excess of proteids increases the internal work of the organism, that fat is by no means as injurious as is frequently supposed, that milk-fat (butter) can even be borne well, and that finally fresh veg etables and potatoes are very desirable food for children. The following
table by Bunge shows the percentage of iron contained in a number of different food-stuffs: Milk and fine flour, and therefore also white bread, belong to the foods poorest in iron, whereas the opposite is true of spinach, asparagus, apples, cherries; also potatoes, peas and beans contain a fair propor tion of iron. For this reason infants should not be fed too long on milk, not even mother's milk.
The presumably unfavorable influence of insufficient light and vicious air could not be proved by experimentation (Schonenberger, Mugge). It is possible, however, that in nervous children and those with a weak constitution, especially infants, this may he different. The evil effects of overheating, however, are well established (Flugge, Grawitz).