Hematological studies on iron- and folate-requirements in pregnancy.

Hematological changes and serum iron, vitamin B12 and folate levels after administration of iron plus folic acid were com· pared with changes and levels after supplement of iron alone in 100 pregnant women. No hematological benefits by adding folic acid was revealed. It is concluded that folic acid deficiency in pregnant women is mild and routine supplementation of folic acid is not necessary except for proved cases of folate deficiency. As to the reason why folic acid deficiency is so mild and megaloblastic anemia is so rare in Japan, uniformity of dietary habits, i. e. boiled rice as basic food, was discussed. ∗PMID: 4277501 [PubMed indexed for MEDLINE] Copyright c ©OKAYAMA UNIVERSITY MEDICAL SCHOOL Acta Merl. Okayama 28, 119-124 (1974) HEMATOLOGICAL STUDIES ON IRON· AND FOLATE·REQUIREMENTS IN PREGNANCY Hirokuni T AGUCHI, Hiroshi SANADA Central Laboratories (Director: Prof. T. Ofuji) Koichi HARA, Toshio HASEI and Ichiro IWASAKI Department of Medicine (Director: Prqf. K. Hiraki) Ryogo SUMlTOMO Okayama Hakuaikai Hospital (Director: S. Katayama) Received for IJUblication, October 2, 1973 Abstract: Hematological changes and serum iron, vitamin B12 and folate levels after administration of iron plus folic acid were com· pared with changes and levels after supplement of iron alone in 100 pregnant women. No hematological benefits by adding folic acid was revealed. It is concluded that folic acid deficiency in pregnant women is mild and routine supplementation of folic acid is not necessary except for proved cases of folate deficiency. As to the reason why folic acid deficiency is so mild and megaloblastic anemia is so rare in Japan, uniformity of dietary habits, i. e. boiled rice as basic food, was discussed. Hematological changes and serum iron, vitamin B12 and folate levels after administration of iron plus folic acid were com· pared with changes and levels after supplement of iron alone in 100 pregnant women. No hematological benefits by adding folic acid was revealed. It is concluded that folic acid deficiency in pregnant women is mild and routine supplementation of folic acid is not necessary except for proved cases of folate deficiency. As to the reason why folic acid deficiency is so mild and megaloblastic anemia is so rare in Japan, uniformity of dietary habits, i. e. boiled rice as basic food, was discussed. Anemia is one of common complications of pregnancy. In japan, the majority of anemias related to pregnancy have been thought to be due to iron deficiency (1). The incidence of megaloblastic anemia in pregnancy is very rare in japan (2). Therefore, folic acid status of japanese pregnant women had not been studied before our report (3). This indicated that mild folic acid deficiency masked by iron deficiency was not infrequently seen among pregnant women. Some reports (4, 5, 6) confirming also high incidence of low serum folate levels in pregnant women appeared afterwards. Megaloblastic anemia is seen in 1-4% of pregnant women in Europe and North America (7). In the countries where high incidence of megaloblastic anemia is seen, prophylactic supplement has been recommended during pregnancy (8, 9). The present study was designed to observe the effect of prophylactic folic acid on hematological values during the late stage of pregnancy and to elucidate whether or not folic acid is necessary during pregnancy. MATERIALS AND METHODS A total of 101 pregnant women visiting the Hakuaikai Hospital at Okayama city were studied. These subjects were divided at random into two groups at 28th week of pregnancy.