1. Effect of Fe Supplementation on Zn Status and the Outcome of Pregnancy
- Author
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Joan M. McKenzie-Parnell, G. F. S. Spears, and P. Don Wilson
- Subjects
Pregnancy ,Birth weight centile ,Chemistry ,medicine ,Competitive interaction ,Food science ,medicine.disease ,Ferrous - Abstract
A new dimension has been added to the concerns regarding the Zn status of healthy pregnant women: the effect of Fe or Fe/folate supplements on Zn nutrition. This recent concern is an example of the increasing importance attached to interactions among the elements, particularly when those interactions are competitive and when they concern two or more essential elements. Such biologically important interactions were predicted almost 20 years ago on the basis of chemical similarities among elements.1 Metabolic studies in non-pregnant human subjects have confirmed in most cases a competitive interaction, manifested as a a reduction in Zn absorption in the presence of inorganic ferrous iron,2 and there is one report of the converse, i.e., a seduction in Fe absorption in the presence of excess Zn in human subjects.3
- Published
- 1988
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