CONCLUSIONS
anaemia
ANAEMIA, IRON EXCESS, EARLY PREGNANCY
Adjusting prenatal iron supplementation to maternal baseline iron stores even in nonanaemic women improves executive functioning and reduces behavioural problems in children aged 4 years. The best‐performing children were those whose mothers prenatally received 80 mg of iron daily when they started pregnancy with normal Hb concentrations but ID, those whose mothers received 40 mg of iron daily when they started pregnancy with normal Hb levels and good iron reserves, and those whose mothers received 20 mg of iron daily when they started pregnancy with normal‐high Hb concentrations and SF > 65 µg/L. Therefore, our data experimentally support that prenatal high‐dose iron supplementation is beneficial for women with ID without anaemia in early pregnancy and for their children, whereas it appears to lead to iron excess iron in those who enter gestation with full iron stores, which may lead to negative mental health outcomes in children later in life. The latter as well as their offspring would benefit from the use of prenatal iron supplements in low doses, as reflected in behavioural developmental outcomes in children. the present results provide valuable information for obstetricians and midwives in pregnancy planning services. Given that SF concentration is not commonly measured in clinical practice, key information is being lost in deciding the best dose of prenatal iron supplementation for each woman. For this reason, routine measuring of SF in addition to Hb concentration from early pregnancy would be advisable to be able to help women to reach and maintain good iron status along gestation, which will result in better behavioural development and fewer behavioural problems for their children. Further studies would be useful to replicate and verify the present findings.