Despite the fact that physicians recommend pregnant women to take supplements with iron, its additional intake does not help especially the future mothers, unless they suffer from anemia. This conclusion was reached by scientists from the Institute of Tropical Medicine of Antwerp in the study of more than 1000 pregnant women in Burkina Faso.

It's not a secret, our body needs iron to produce hemoglobin - a complex protein that binds to oxygen and provides its transfer to tissues. In European countries, anemia, that is, a decrease in the concentration of hemoglobin in the blood, is not so common, but in Africa up to 50% of all women suffer from this disorder. Thus, out of 1268 pregnant women participating in the survey, 43% had anemia, according to the Science Daily.

Half of them drank daily supplements with 60 milligrams of iron and folic acid. The remaining 50% took 30 milligrams of iron plus folic acid, zinc, vitamins A, C and other microelements. The participants drank supplements until the child was three months old.

By the end of the study, the researchers analyzed the level of iron in the blood of both groups. It turned out that it was identical, despite the amount of iron taken. So, all mothers had about 11 grams of hemoglobin per deciliter of blood, which is below the norm.

During pregnancy, when a developing child also needs oxygen, a woman's need for iron increases. However, taking an additional amount of iron for normal women who do not suffer from anemia will not help keep hemoglobin levels from falling.

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