Efficacy and safety of ferrous asparto glycinate in the management of iron deficiency anaemia in pregnant women.

The aim of the present investigation was to compare the efficacy and safety of oral ferrous asparto glycinate and ferrous ascorbate in pregnant women with iron deficiency anaemia (IDA). We performed a double blind, prospective, randomised, multicentre, parallel group comparative clinical study at three different centres in India. A total of 73 pregnant women at 12-26 weeks' gestation were divided into two arms. While one group received ferrous ascorbate, another group was treated with ferrous asparto glycinate for a period of 28 days. The mean rise in haemoglobin and ferritin levels on day 14 and 28 was evaluated. At both time points, significantly higher levels of haemoglobin and ferritin were noticed with ferrous asparto glycinate treatment as compared with ferrous ascorbate. Our results showed that ferrous asparto glycinate is an effective iron-amino acid chelate in the management of IDA in pregnant women as compared with ferrous ascorbate. Nevertheless, additional large scale prospective, randomised trials are warranted to confirm the findings of the present efficacy trial, and also to find out the anaemia eradication rate.