Supplementation of iron alone and combined with vitamins improves haematological status, erythrocyte membrane fluidity and oxidative stress in anaemic pregnant women.

Pregnancy is a condition exhibiting increased susceptibility to oxidative stress, and Fe plays a central role in generating harmful oxygen species. The objective of the present study is to investigate the changes in haematological status, oxidative stress and erythrocyte membrane fluidity in anaemic pregnant women after Fe supplementation with and without combined vitamins. The study was a 2 months double-blind, randomised trial. Pregnant women (n 164) were allocated to four groups: group C was the placebo control group; group I was supplemented daily with 60 mg Fe (ferrous sulphate) daily; group IF was supplemented daily with Fe plus 400 µg folic acid; group IM was supplemented daily with Fe plus 2 mg retinol and 1 mg riboflavin, respectively. After the 2-month trial, Hb significantly increased by 15.8, 17.3 and 21.8 g/l, and ferritin by 2.8, 3.6 and 11.0 µg/l, in the I, IF and IM groups compared with placebo. Polarisation (ρ) and microviscosity (η) decreased significantly in other groups compared with placebo, indicating an increase in membrane fluidity. Significant decreases of ρ and η values compared with group C were 0.033 and 0.959 for group I, 0.037 and 1.074 for group IF and 0.064 and 1.865 for group IM, respectively. In addition, significant increases of glutathione peroxidase activities and decreases of malondialdehyde were shown in all treated groups, as well as increases of plasma retinol and urine riboflavin in group IM. The findings show that supplementation with Fe and particularly in combination with vitamins could improve the haematological status as well as oxidative stress and erythrocyte membrane fluidity.

[Status of vitamin A, vitamin B2, iron and an-oxidantive activity in anemic pregnant women in China].

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the status of vitamin A(VA), vitamin B2 (VB2), iron and anoxidative function in anemic and non-anemic pregnant women. METHODS: 426 anemic and 36 non-anemic pregnant women were included in the study. The survey of 24-hour's diet recall of pregnant women was made to evaluate intake of iron, VB2, folic acid, etc by the nutrition software provided by Beijing 301 hospital, iron and VA were measured by Radioimmunoassay (RIA) and by high-pressure liquid chromatography. VB2 status was detected using the assay for erythrocyte glutathione reductase (Egr; EC 1.6.4.2) activity. SOD and GSH-Px activities and MDA were determined using commercial kits. Peripheral blood erythrocyte membrane fluidity was detected by using 1,6-diphenyl-1,3,5-hexatriene as a probe, the degree of fluorescence polarization (P) at 25 degrees C of disrupted cells plasma membranes were compared for a variety of systems. RESULTS: Median intakes of protein and vitamin C met the current Chinese RNIs for pregnancy, whereas intakes of(VA) and VB2 were well below the recommendations. Intake of iron were above 90%, but the main sources of iron are vegetables. Plasma VA (1.25 micromol/L) and iron (20.57 microg/L) were lower, BGRAC (1.79) was higher than that in non-anemia group (VA 1.57 micromol/L, SF 33.16 microg/L, BGRAC 1.52). The level of plasma SOD (77.1U/ml) and the activity of GSH-Px (61.9U) were lower than those in non-anemia group (92.2U/ml, 71.6U, P < 0.05), while MDA (4.58 nmol/ml) level and erythrocyte membrane (P = 0.2622, eta = 2.7465) fluidity were higher than those non-anemia group(MDA = 3.78 nmol/ ml, P = 0.2360, eta = 2.3658). CONCLUSION: Plasam VA, VB2 and iron, antioxidantcapacity and erythrocyte membrane fluidity were decreased in the anemic pregnant women.