Can iron be teratogenic?

Abstract

Several kinds of evidence indicate that elevated iron during the 3-8 week embryonic (organogenesis) period of human gestation may be teratogenic. (1) In the embryonic period, the natural maternal absorption of food iron is 30% below the estimated daily iron loss. (2) As compared with maternal serum, embryonic fetal coelomic fluid contains only one-fourth as much iron but nearly six times the quantity of the iron withholding protein, ferritin. (3) In the embryonic period, intraplacental oxygen pressure is 2-3 times lower than in the subsequent fetal growth period. (4) Iron is a strong inducer of emesis which peaks in the embryonic period. (5) In a murine gestation model, iron was neurotoxic at a sharp peak of 8-9 days. Thus it would be prudent, in human pregnancy, to delay any needed iron supplementation until the embryonic period has been completed.