14 DAY TRIAL // Iron deficiency is the most popular micronutrient deficiency in the world, and a recent study carried out by researchers at the Harvard School of Public Health found that iron supplements may be the key to reducing female ovulatory infertility and, consequently, to boosting rates of women who can easily conceive. The findings of the Harvard research have been published in the Obstetrics & Gynecology Journal and pointed out the fact that women who took extra iron were far more likely to become pregnant than their peers who overlooked levels of iron in their bodies and did not supplement their diet with the nutritive mineral.
Commenting on the current research, Dr. Jennifer Wu, Obstetrician/Gynecologist at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City who did not take part in the study stated: "It's actually a very simple problem to correct with iron supplements and probably a multivitamin. It would be a very easy fix for infertility if iron plays a role in ovulatory dysfunction." She also added that women who want to become pregnant should be highly concerned about their overall nutrition and adopt a healthy lifestyle and diet: "You assume that you need certain building blocks in order to ovulate and have conception and fertilization and all that, so it does make sense that you'd want to have good nutrition overall. What the exact mix of nutrients is, no one knows."
According to previous studies, iron is essential for the red blood cells formation and for the oxygen carrying to the tissues. Iron, as a nutritive mineral, boosts energy in our bodies, makes us active and provides us with stamina. Iron is tightly linked to the hemoglobin, which transports oxygen from the lungs to all body cells and is also part of key enzyme systems for energy production and metabolism.
Iron also strengthens and protects all the organs within our body and is crucial for menstruating, pregnant or lactating women whose bodies usually lack iron. Iron plays a decisive role in the growth and physical development of children and teenagers, as it helps their bodies grow in a healthy and harmonious way.
On the other hand, iron deficiency causes anemia, shortness of breath, headaches, chronic fatigue, nausea, dry mouth, severe menstruation pains and disorders. Natural sources of iron are: egg yolk, mushrooms, red meat (beef), but also green-leaved vegetables (spinach), watermelons etc. High amounts of iron - but which are absorbed into the body more slowly - are present in the parsley root, nettles, dry fruits (apricots, figs), whole-cereals (brown rice), potatoes boiled in their own jacket, almonds, nuts.
The current research investigated data on more than 18,500 married women in the premenopausal period, who did not have a history in infertility, therefore there were no other factors to influence their probability of succeeding in conceiving on their first attempt. The follow-up study lasted for an 8-year period and showed that women who adopted a diet rich in nonheme iron (iron from animal sources) were considerably more likely to be fertile than their counterparts who consumed high amounts of iron coming from vegetable sources or supplements or had diets poor in iron nutritive mineral.
Lead researcher of the study Dr. Jorge E. Chavarro, Research Fellow in the Department of Nutrition at Harvard School of Public Health confirmed that "women who consumed nonheme iron had a significantly lower risk of infertility due to ovulation when compared to women who were consuming low iron or heme iron." He concluded: "It's important that the results are reproduced, but the results suggest that women who are trying to get pregnant should consider having greater amounts of iron in their diet from non-animal sources including multivitamin supplements."