Iron in tubewell water and linear growth in rural Bangladesh

Abstract

The growth of 694 children from rural Bangladesh was studied. Children drinking water containing greater than 1 mg iron/l (n = 628) were significantly taller than those drinking less than 1 mg iron/l (n = 66): their mean (SD) height for age Z score was -2.10 (1.34) compared with -2.45 (1.24), p less than 0.05. This suggests that iron deficiency may contribute to growth retardation in poor communities