Four in five pregnant women in Ireland are iron deficient – here’s why that’s worrying

By Elaine McCarthy, Lecturer in Nutrition, School of Food and Nutritional Sciences, University College Cork

More than 80% of pregnant women in Ireland are iron deficient by their third trimester, according to a new study my colleagues and I conducted. What we found particularly surprising was that the women were in otherwise good health.

Working alongside the University of Minnesota and the Masonic Institute of the Developing Brain, we analysed data from 641 participants based in the Republic of Ireland. All were pregnant with their first child. We took blood samples at 15, 20 and 33 weeks to…

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