Treatment of Anemia in the 2nd Year of Life. Comparison of the Efficacy of Two Different Iron Preparations.

Healthy toddlers (age 9-18 month) following a routine blood count will be placed in three groups:

1. Iron deficiency with no anemia
2. anemia
3. no anemia and no iron deficiency Following a nutritional questionnaire, parents of all toddlers will receive instruction regarding appropriate nutrition in the 2nd year of life. Groups 1 and 2 will randomly receive one of two preparations currently in use for treatment of iron deficiency in Israel (Aktiron 35 - Ferrous gluconate and Ferripel-3 - iron polysaccharide complex). Followup blood count will be taken 3 month after recruitment. The study aims to compare the effectiveness of the Iron preparations regarding compliance and efficacy.

The hypothesis is that a significant difference will be detected between the two preparations.

Inclusion Criteria:

• Healthy toddlers age 9-18 months

Exclusion Criteria:

• Toddlers with: chronic diseases, prematurity, inherited hematological disease.