CoChat
Sign Up
Cited by 140Iron Metabolism and DisordersTrace Elements in HealthInfant Nutrition and Health

Maternal iron status influences iron transfer to the fetus during the third trimester of pregnancy

Open access
O’Brien, Kimberly O, Zavaleta, Nelly, Abrams, Steven A, Caulfield, Laura E·2003·The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition
DOI 10.1093/ajcn/77.4.924
Open this paper in CoChat — free account

Abstract

Background The effect of maternal iron status on fetal iron deposition is uncertain.Objective We used a unique stable-isotope technique to assess iron transfer to the fetus in relation to maternal iron status.Design The study group comprised 41 Peruvian women. Of these women, 26 received daily prenatal supplements containing iron and folate (n = 11; Fe group) or iron, folate, and zinc (n = 15; Fe+Zn group) from week 10-24 of pregnancy to 1 mo postpartum. The remaining 15 women (control group) received iron supplementation only during the final month of pregnancy. During the third trimester of pregnancy (+/- SD: 32.9 +/- 1.4 wk gestation) oral 57Fe (10 mg) and intravenous 58Fe (0.6 mg) stable iron isotopes were administered to the women, and isotope enrichment and iron-status indicators were measured in cord blood at delivery.Results The net amount of 57Fe in the neonates' circulation (from maternal oral dosing) was significantly related to maternal iron absorption (P < 0.005) and inversely related to maternal iron status during the third trimester of pregnancy: serum ferritin (P < 0.0001), serum folate (P < 0.005), and serum transferrin receptors (P < 0.02). Significantly more 57Fe was transferred to the neonates in non-iron-supplemented women: 0.112 +/- 0.031 compared with 0.078 +/- 0.042 mg in the control group (n = 15) and the Fe and Fe+Zn groups (n = 24), respectively (P < 0.01). In contrast, 58Fe tracer in the neonates' circulation was not significantly related to maternal iron status.Conclusion The transfer of dietary iron to the fetus is regulated in response to maternal iron status at the level of the gut.

Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.1093/ajcn/77.4.924

Cites

41 of 41 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

Statistics

Recomputing p-values needs the paper’s full text.

Claims the paper makes

We couldn’t retrieve this paper’s full text, so its claims and self-check weren’t run. The registry and citation checks still apply.

Claims other papers make about this one

Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?

  • Iron deficiency is common during pregnancy, affecting 40%-50% of women and their infants.

    “Iron de fi ciency, with its resultant anemia, is the most commonly measured nutrient de fi ciency, and it is especially common during pregnancy, affecting 40% -50% of women and their infants (8 -10).”

    From Maternal Intake of Supplemental Iron and Risk of Autism Spectrum Disorder (2014) · cites this paper as [9]

Cites

Flagged first, then by citations

6 of the 47 references couldn’t be matched to a known paper.

Cited by

Sorted by citations

Related

Authors
O’Brien, K. O., Zavaleta, N., Abrams, S. A., & Caulfield, L. E.
Affiliations
Agricultural Research Service (US)
ORCID
Venue
The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition
Publisher
Elsevier BV
Published
2003-04
Volume
77
Issue
4
Pages
924-930
ISSN
0002-9165 (ISSN-L)
DOI
10.1093/ajcn/77.4.924
OpenAlex
W2155946656
Cited by
140
References
47
Citations by year
2026: 2 · 2025: 8 · 2024: 3 · 2023: 4 · 2022: 8 · 2021: 9 · 2020: 7 · 2018: 3 · 2017: 2 · 2016: 10 · 2015: 8 · 2014: 8 · 2013: 5 · 2012: 10
FWCI
3.80
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
Locations
  • American Journal of Clinical Nutrition (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
Topics
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Hematology › Iron Metabolism and Disorders
  • Health Sciences › Nursing › Nutrition and Dietetics › Trace Elements in Health
  • Health Sciences › Nursing › Nutrition and Dietetics › Infant Nutrition and Health
Keywords
maternal iron status, third trimester, iron supplementation, iron absorption, iron stable isotopes, serum ferritin, serum folate, transferrin receptor
MeSH terms
Adolescent, Adult, Diet, Female, Ferritins, Fetal Blood, Folic Acid, Gestational Age, Humans, Infant, Newborn, Iron, Iron Isotopes, Maternal-Fetal Exchange, Nutritional Status, Peru, Pregnancy, Pregnancy Trimester, Third, Zinc, Iron, Dietary, Dietary Supplements

About these checks

Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.

Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.

Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.

What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›

Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review