BACKGROUND Iron supplementation is a chief component in prenatal care, with the aim of preventing anemia; however, extreme maternal iron status may adversely affect the birth outcome. Given the negative consequences of high maternal iron concentrations on pregnancy outcomes, it seems that iron supplementation in women with high hemoglobin (Hb) should be limited. OBJECTIVES The aim of this stu...

BACKGROUND The data comparing daily versus intermittent iron supplementation during pregnancy remain controversial. This study was undertaken to compare the efficacy of daily versus two different intermittent iron supplementation regimes on hematologic markers and birth outcomes in nonanemic pregnant women. METHODS Two hundred and ten women with singleton pregnancies, no known disease, and he...

The physiological challenges and metabolic demands of pregnancy increase maternal nutritional requirements for macro and micronutrients, critical for the establishment and maintenance of a healthy pregnancy. Trace elements are essential for a variety of cellular processes, and their deficiency has been linked to complications of pregnancy such as preeclampsia, preterm delivery and small for ges...

Many Indonesian infants have an inadequate nutritional status, which may be due in part to inadequate maternal nutrition during pregnancy. This study was designed to investigate whether infant nutritional status could be improved by maternal vitamin A and Fe supplementation during gestation. Mothers of these infants from five villages had been randomly assigned on an individual basis, supervise...

BACKGROUND The effects of gestational supplementation with fish oil on risks for gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM), pregnancy-induced hypertension (PIH), and pre-eclampsia (PE) have not been confirmed. In this study, a meta-analysis was performed to evaluate the effect of fish oil supplementation on these gestational complications. MATERIAL AND METHODS Randomized controlled human trials tha...

Objective: The main goal of the present study was to investigate the effect of iron supplementation on glucose transporter 4 expressions in adipose tissue and skeletal muscle in female rats during pregnancy. Methods: Twenty-four pregnant Sprague-Dawley rats were randomly divided into 2 groups: a control group with a standard diet (containing iron 150 mg/kg) and an iron-supplementation group wit...

BACKGROUND Reduced intake of micronutrients during pregnancy exposes women to nutritional deficiencies and may affect fetal growth. We conducted a systematic review to examine the efficacy of prenatal supplementation with multimicronutrients on pregnancy outcomes. METHODS We searched MEDLINE, EMBASE, CINAHL and the Cochrane Library for relevant articles published in English up to December 200...

During the second year of the "Iron-like Turkey" Project, in which all children aged 4-6 months in Turkey receive iron supplementation for 5 months, we aimed to assess the utilization of iron supplementation in the field, as well as the prevalence of anemia in healthy infants aged 12-23 months, while determining a variety of sociodemographic and nutritional factors for anemia in three of the 12...

BACKGROUND Taking folic acid supplements before pregnancy to reduce the risk of a neural tube defect (NTD) is especially important in countries without universal folic acid fortification. The extent of folic acid supplementation among women who had antenatal screening for Down's syndrome and NTDs at the Wolfson Institute of Preventive Medicine, London between 1999 and 2012 was assessed. METHO...

Taking folate before conception and then for the first three months of pregnancy reduces the risk of recurrence of neural tube defects, and fortification of food has been proposed. The effects of long term exposure to high concentrations of supplemental folate are unknown, and antimetabolite effects are theoretically possible. Data on the long term effects of increased folate intake in pregnanc...