The Iron Status of Korean Pregnant Women

We surveyed Korean pregnant women who participated in the Maeil mothers' club and factory tour from March to April, 2004 and assessed volunteers' hemoglobin (Hb) levels. The average Hb level of 747 subjects was $11.5{\pm}1.5g/dl$ and anemic subjects were 268 women, 35.9% of total subjects. The ratio of anemic subjects was 42.9% in the first trimester, 43.6% in the second trimester and 29.1 % in the third trimester. About 87.9% of subjects began to take health foods after conception. Seventy nine percent of subjects took iron supplement as one of health foods and 73.8% of them began it in the second trimester. The results of this study showed that health foods were more effective than iron supplement alone in improving the iron status of Korean pregnant women. Therefore, the better improvement effects are expected when pregnant women begin health food-based approaches as early as possible before pregnancy to improve pre-pregnancy iron reserve.