The Free Radical Content Of Faeces Among Anaemia Pregnant Women Receiving Oral Supplementation Consisted Of Ferrous Sulfate, Folic Acid, Vitamin B6 And Vitamin B12

Abstract

Iron deficiency anaemia in pregnant women is a major public health problem in Indonesia. Indonesia has adapted a supplementation programme. However, there is an indication that most of the iron in the supplement remains unabsorbed and hence may be available to participate in free radical generation. The increasing erythropoesis due to consumption supplement consisted of ferro sulfate, folic acid, vitamin B and vitamin B12 will increase iron absorption and is therefore desirable. The objectives of this research are to measure iron and free radical in faeces. The iron content was measured in kind of total iron, EDTA-chelatable iron, water-soluble iron and heme iron. The quasi experimental design was conducted over a 45 days continuous period in the double blind supplementation. The samples consisted of 36 anaemia pregnant women in the second trimester who were randomly placed in the control group of 18 samples and the treatment group of 18 samples. The control group received supplement consisted of ferro sulfate and folic acid, while the treatment group received supplement consisted of ferro sulfate, folic acid, vitamin B, and vitamin B12 At the end of the research, the number of samples for control group were 13 and for treatment group were 12. Their intake was recorded by semi quantitative food-frequency questionnaire method while total faeces excreted in one day was collected a day before supplementation began and a day after supplementation ended. Hydroxyl radical was determined by using an in-vitro assay using dimethyl sulfoxide. Total iron, EDTA-chelatable iron and water soluble iron were measured by AAS method. Heme iron was measured by heme quant assay. The sufficiency levels of nutrients needed for erythropoesis before supplementation were low. They were 39.67% for iron; 51.84% for folic acid; 44.96% for vitamin B, and 16.9% for vitamin B12. During supplementation period, there was not any significant differences between the control and the treatment group in the case of those nutrients sufficiency levels. Before supplementation, hydroxyl radical content was 4.475 µmol/kg-wet faeces which is equal to 9.33 µmol/g-dry faeces and after supplementation there was significant decrease (p<0.05) between the control group and the treatment group. The content for treatment group was 23% lower than the control group that was associated with the decrease of all kind fecal iron. The content of hydroxyl radical. for treatment group was 58% lower than the control group with the mean value of different after-before supplementation..