Written by Greg Arnold, DC, CSCS. Researchers determined that consumption of iron in pregnant women reduced the risk of having a low birth weight baby and anemia during pregnancy.
According to 2011 data from the Nutrition Impact Model Study, 32 million pregnant women worldwide (38% of all pregnant women) have a deficiency in iron, more commonly known as anemia (1). While there are many causes of anemia during pregnancy, including infections (malaria, hookworm), deficiencies in other nutrients like folic acid, vitamin A, and vitamin B12, and inherited conditions like thalassemia, lack of dietary iron intake, is the most common cause (2).
The World Health Organization states that anemia during pregnancy puts a “substantial disease burden” (3) on society. Now a new review of the research (4) suggests that iron supplementation may benefit pregnancy health. In the review, researchers analyzed data on 17,793 women from 48 different studies that supplemented iron in doses ranging from 10 to 240 milligrams per day and lasting from 7 to 30 weeks during pregnancy.
Classifying anemia as having hemoglobin levels less than 115 grams per Liter, researchers found iron supplementation during pregnancy reduced the risk of anemia during the third trimester by 50 % (P< 0.001) and also reduced the risk of having a low birth weight baby by 19 % (P< 0.05). Regarding the dose of iron, the researchers noted benefits with increased dosage up to 66 milligrams per day, with every 10-mg increase in iron supplementation reducing the risk of anemia during pregnancy by 12 % and reducing the risk of having a low birth weight baby by 3 %. The current recommendations for iron supplementation during pregnancy by the World Health Organization are 60 milligrams per day (5), while the Institute of Medicine recommends 45 milligrams per day (6).
The researchers concluded that “use of iron in women during pregnancy may be used as a preventive strategy to improve maternal hematological status and birth weight.”
Source: Haider, Batool A., et al. “Anaemia, prenatal iron use, and risk of adverse pregnancy outcomes: systematic review and meta-analysis.” Bmj 346 (2013): f3443.
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Posted July 22, 2013.
Greg Arnold is a Chiropractic Physician practicing in Hauppauge, NY. You can contact Dr. Arnold directly by emailing him at PitchingDoc@msn.com or visiting his web site at www.PitchingDoc.com
References:
- “Micronutrient deficiencies: iron deficiency anemia” posted on the World Health Organization website.
- Stoltzfus R, Dreyfuss M. Guidelines for the use of iron supplements to prevent and treat iron deficiency anaemia. ILSI Press, 1998.
- World Health Organization. Global health risks: mortality and burden of disease attributable to selected major risk factors. WHO, 2009.
- Haider BA. Anaemia, prenatal iron use, and risk of adverse pregnancy outcomes: systematic review and meta-analysis BMJ. 2013 Jun 21;346:f3443. doi: 10.1136/bmj.f3443.
- World Health Organization. Iron and folate supplementation: standards for maternal and neonatal care. Integrated Management of Pregnancy and Childbirth (IMPAC). Department of Making Pregnancy Safer, WHO, 2007.
- Institute of Medicine. Iron: dietary reference intakes for vitamin A, vitamin K, arsenic, boron, chromium, copper, iodine, iron, manganese, molybdenum, nickel, silicon, vanadium, and zinc. Insitute of Medicine, 2001:290-393.
