Abstract
Due to poverty and ignorance more than half of the pregnant women in developing country are suffering from iron deficiency anaemia (IDA). Different gastrointestinal side effects cause low compliance to iron supplementation. Amloki (Emblica officinalis) is very popular among pregnant women for its taste and traditional belief of well-being. The aim of this study is to determine the effects of amloki on RBC, WBC and Platelet count. Prospective comparative study was carried out on patients of Outpatient Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Dhaka Medical College Hospital from July 2016 to June 2017. A total of 43 pregnant women between the 13th to the 20th weeks of gestation with IDA were selected aged 18 - 36 years in this study. Anemic pregnant women supplemented with oral iron and amloki were considered as study group (A) and control group (B) were with only iron supplementation for 45 days. Total count of RBC, WBC and platelet were done in the Department of Hematology & BMT Unit, Dhaka Medical College Hospital, Dhaka. For statistical analysis, Paired Student’s “t” test and Unpaired Student’s “t” test were considered using SPSS 22.0 version. A significant increase (p < 0.05) of blood RBC count was observed after intervention of iron in both groups. There was also significant increase in RBC count in iron + amloki supplemented group than that of only iron supplemented group. In this study, there was also increase of WBC count in iron + amloki supplemented group and decrease of platelet count in both groups, but these changes were not statistically significant. It can be concluded that oral amloki supplementation causes increased blood RBC count in IDA with pregnancy.
Highlights
Iron deficiency anaemia (IDA) is one of the most common health problems during pregnancy [1]
Due to poverty and ignorance more than half of the pregnant women in developing country are suffering from iron deficiency anaemia (IDA)
Anemic pregnant women supplemented with oral iron and amloki were considered as study group (A) and control group (B) were with only iron supplementation for 45 days
Summary
Iron deficiency anaemia (IDA) is one of the most common health problems during pregnancy [1]. WHO has recommended iron and folic acid supplementation as standard treatment for IDA in pregnancy [9]. It has several side effects, like heart burn, nausea, upper gastric discomfort, constipation and diarrhea. Amloki has the ability to increase iron absorption and decreases the side effects [10]. Haque and Sinha (2015) experimented that aqueous extracts of Emblica officinalis fruit administration significantly increases red blood cell, hemoglobin concentration and WBC count in wister albino rats [11]. Vitamin C present in amloki causes this reduction and increases iron absorption. Phytates found in cereal products and polyphenolic compounds in all plant products are the most potent dietary inhibitor of non-haem iron absorption. Adding vitamin C to a meal increases non-heme iron absorption up to six-fold which makes the absorption of non-heme iron as good as or better than that of heme iron [16]
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