Diet and serum iron status in pregnant and lactating Hausa women in Kano State, Nigeria

Abstract

Serum iron concentrations were studied in two groups of Hausa women, one of pregnant subjects attending the antenatal clinics at a health centre and one of lactating subjects attending the centre's postnatal clinics. It was thought possible that the normal diet of the pregnant women had sufficient iron content to meet the women's increased demands for this metal.

Of the pregnant women, 17% had serum iron concentrations of ≤490 μg/litre [14% with microcytic hypochromia and a mean cell haemoglobin concentration (239 ± 2 g/litre) indicative of iron deficiency, plus 3% with normocytic-microcytic hypochromia] and 7% had normocytic-microcytic cells and 525 ± 25 μg iron/litre of serum. The low serum iron in 17% of the pregnant women may be the result of repeated pregnancies without proper child spacing, leading to maternal iron deficiency syndrome, or of infestation by the parasites that are prevalent in rural areas, or to both.

None of the lactating mothers was found to be iron deficient and there were apparently no cases of haemosiderosis. Mean (± s.d.) blood haemoglobin concentrations (87·5 ±1 ·3 g/litre), packed cell volumes (32 ± 3·2%), mean cell haemoglobin concentrations (274 ± 37 g/litre) and serum iron concentrations (735 ± 261 μg/litre) were all significantly lower in the pregnant women (P<0·001) than in the lactating women (105·7 ± 12·9 g/litre, 36·8 μ 3·4%, 288 ± 32 g/litre and 1154 ± 277 μg/litre, respectively). However, total iron binding capacity was significantly higher (P < 0·001) in the pregnant women (3·70 ± 0·96 g/litre) than in the lactating women (2·861 ± 0425 g/litre) and was inversely correlated with serum iron concentration (r = 0·56; P <0·001).