Relative bioavailability of iron and folic acid from a new powdered supplement compared to a traditional tablet in pregnant women.

What Was Tested

The paper reports a study of Folic Acid and Iron, published as a randomized controlled trial.

Their objective was to measure the relative bioavailability of iron and folic acid from a powdered supplement that can be sprinkled on semi-solid foods or beverages versus a traditional tablet supplement in pregnant women.

Why It Was Studied

Deficiencies of iron and folic acid during pregnancy can lead to adverse outcomes for the fetus, thus supplements are recommended.

Adherence to current tablet-based supplements is documented to be poor.

Who Took Part

By PubMed's age tags, the people studied were teenagers, young adults and adults, women only.

Eighteen healthy pregnant women (24 - 32 weeks gestation) were randomized to receive the supplements in a crossover design.

How the Study Was Run

In design terms this was a randomized and crossover study.

Because people in this Folic Acid study were split into groups at random, differences between the groups are less likely to reflect who happened to join each one.

In the crossover set-up each of the participants took both Folic Acid and the comparison in turn, acting as their own control.

What Was Measured

Deficiencies of iron and folic acid during pregnancy can lead to adverse outcomes for the fetus, thus supplements are recommended.

The subject headings attached to it are Anemia, Iron-Deficiency, Biological Availability, Dietary Supplements, Folic Acid, Hematinics, Iron and Powders.

What This Means in Plain Language

The paper is a randomized and crossover study of Folic Acid and Iron.

The abstract goes on to report its results in about 5 sentences; this page does not restate them, so read the paper for the findings and their limits.

The publication is from 2009 (BMC pregnancy and childbirth), a journal based in England.

More context: all human trials.