Iron absorption in early pregnancy - a study of the absorption of non-haeme iron and ferrous iron in early pregnancy.

The absorption of non-haeme iron in the food and from a 3 mg reference dose of ferrous iron in solution was measured in 17 healthy women before the 12th week of gestation and in 13 of the women two months after legal abortion. The absorption of ferrous iron in solution was calculated from determinations of the 55Fe activity in blood samples. The food iron absorption was measured from 59Fe-labelled test meals using a highly sensitive whole-body counter. In addition bone-marrow smears and other haematological parameters were studied. The median value of the absorption from the non-haeme food iron was 2.5% and from the ferrous iron salt 10.0 % in early pregnancy in women with storage iron. Two months after abortion the absorption increased to 12.6 and 42.6 % respectively. In early pregnancy the absorption of iron was higher in women without stainable iron in bone-marrow smears. The present results confirm previous observations that the absorption of food iron in early pregnancy is lower than the basal daily requirements. The low absorption is only partly explained by the reduced requirements of iron in early pregnancy. Some other factors related to pregnancy seem also to be involved.