DIETARY IRON AND MORBIDITY FROM RESPIRATORY INFECTION-Reply

To the Editor: In 1961, after reviewing the infant births and infant deaths in Chicago, we found a much higher mortality rate in the underprivileged than in our affluent population. The two factors most noticeable were poverty and the high incidence of anemia in the former population group, in spite of the fact that all the infants clinically seemed well nourished. For years we have been supplying a supplemental iron preparation to the anemic infants, but because of indifference on the part of the mothers and intolerance to the iron on the part of the infants, they failed to receive the supplementation regularly. Accordingly, we attempted to design a study that would simplify the prevention of iron deficiency. Coincidental to this we collected and tabulated other information which we felt might be of benefit in the final analysis. We did not anticipate such a great difference in