Effects of iron and n-3 fatty acid supplementation, alone and in combination, on cognition in school children: a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled intervention in South Africa.

Study answer

What this study found

Iron supplementation improved cognition, especially learning and memory, whereas DHA/EPA did not improve cognition and showed adverse effects in some subgroups. Iron increased HVLT recall 2 by 0.90 words (95% CI: 0.18, 1.62); in anemic children, iron improved Atlantis Delayed scores by 1.51 (95% CI: 0.03, 2.99) and HVLT recall 2 by 2.02 (95% CI: 0.55, 3.49). DHA/EPA had no overall cognitive benefit and reduced Atlantis test scores in children who were anemic at baseline (22.48; 95% CI: 23.99, 20.96) and Atlantis Delayed scores in girls with iron deficiency (20.9; 95% CI: 21.45, 20.36). The…

Study & population

Randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled intervention in schoolchildren aged 6-11 years from four primary schools in rural KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa.

Intervention

This was a 2-by-2 factorial oral supplementation trial testing iron, DHA/EPA, both together, or matching placebos for 8.5 months.

Key limitation

The trial had a relatively modest sample size after attrition, and several findings came from subgroup analyses, increasing the risk of chance findings.

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Original abstract