Dear Andre,

I have an interest in the subject because the young infant's
dependence on exogenous Fe is very high. It provides another argument
to support the hypothesis that meat must have played an important
role in paleolithic diets.  There must have been more than enough
meat if even infants got to share the spoils.

It has always struck me as odd that cereals are recommended as the
infant's first food (apart from human milk), yet they need to iron
fortified to make them suitable. Whenever I bring up this topic of
discussion with my colleagues, I get the argument that meat is scarce
in developing countries and not environmentally sound.

Organ meat and the flesh of newly killed animals would have been
virtually sterile and an almost complete source of nutrients.   Even
vitamin C would have come from liver and muscle.  I am not sure about
calcium intake - is bone marrow a good source of calcium or not?

Cheers Jennie



Jennie Brand-Miller  PhD
Associate Professor in Human Nutrition
Department of Biochemistry  G08
University of Sydney
NSW 2006  Australia
Phone: (61 2) 9351 3759
Fax: (61 2) 9351 6022
Website: http://www.biochem.usyd.edu.au/staff/brandmiller/index.html