Obesity during Pregnancy and Fetal Iron Status: is Hepcidin the link?

OBJECTIVE: To ascertain the effect of obesity-related inflammation on maternal and fetal iron status. We hypothesized that obese pregnant women would have increased inflammation, hepcidin levels, and that their infants would have impaired iron status compared to lean controls. STUDY DESIGN: Fifteen obese (Ob) and fifteen lean (Lc) women were recruited in their second trimester of pregnancy. Markers of iron status, inflammation and hepcidin were measured in maternal and cord blood. Student’s t test was used to compare obese and lean groups, and Pearson correlation coefficients were determined between maternal and cord blood values. RESULTS: Maternal C-reactive protein (CRP) (p<0.01) and hepcidin (p<0.01) were higher, and cord blood iron (p<0.01) was lower in the obese group. Maternal BMI (p<0.01) and hepcidin (p<0.05) were negatively correlated with cord blood iron status. CONCLUSIONS: Maternal obesity is associated with impaired maternal-fetal iron transfer, potentially through hepcidin upregulation.