The high demand for iron during pregnancy is not only caused by maternal tissue growth and the increasing needs of oxygen and oxygen-carriers, but also by fetal demands. The consequences of anaemia during gestation are multiple and well-known. They include increased maternal and fetal morbidity and mortality 7 and the risk of delivering children with low birth weight 8 . Iron from meat is absorbed much better than iron from plant sources. Dietary fibre or tannins can reduce the absorption of non-heme iron by forming insoluble complexes with iron.
Tannins are, for example, contained in black tea.
Also, there are substances which promote iron absorption such as ascorbic acid. One can profit from this by drinking a glass of orange juice together with iron containing food. The results of the National Nutritional Survey from 1991 indicate that the folate intake in large parts of the German population does not meet the recommendations of the German Society of Nutrition 9 . THF is, for instance, essential for the synthesis of pyrimidines and purines in nucleotide metabolism. It is also necessary for the synthesis of amino acids, neurotransmitters, myelin and phospholipids.