Experimental observations on strontium metabolism in the newborn rat and man can be explained by the following concept: the Sr/Ca ratio of the infant bone existing at birth as well as that of new bone being formed assumes a value that is determined by the Sr/Ca of the infant's diet and the degree of discrimination operative. The infant can lose or gain Sr from the body depending upon the rate of growth and the comparative Sr/Ca ratios of the body at birth and of the diet. These factors are such that the breast-fed human infant is likely to lose strontium from the body in the early days and weeks after birth.
(C)1965Health Physics Society