Research Breakthroughs in Medicine and Nutrition
Pregnant women need more iron!
What we eat and our physical health also has a profound effect on unborn babies. More than 80% of pregnant women in Ireland are iron deficient by their third trimester, according to a new study conducted by University College Cork’s researchers at the Irish Centre for Maternal and Child Health (INFANT) and School of Food and Nutritional Sciences.
Involving 641 participants based in the Republic of Ireland, the study is one of the largest of its kind globally, and reveals how widespread iron deficiency is, even in wealthy countries like Ireland. Indeed, the women in this study had higher rates of iron deficiency than women in some low-income countries where access to good healthcare and nutritious foods is more limited.
In the early months of pregnancy, 20% of women were iron deficient at 15 weeks, but none were anaemic. But by the third trimester, more than 80% were iron deficient. Lead researcher, Dr Elaine McCarthy said, “It seems while many women may begin pregnancy with normal iron levels, they are not getting enough to keep up with the body’s increasing needs as pregnancy progresses.”
The paper published in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, can be read here: Longitudinal evaluation of iron status during pregnancy: a prospective cohort study in a high-resource setting - ScienceDirect