Iron supplements enhance postural control in young women with anaemia

Oral iron supplementation for 8 weeks results in significant improvements in postural control in young women with iron-deficiency anaemia (IDA).

Following oral iron supplementation, significant increases were observed in proprioceptive acuity values (mean difference [MD], 1.83, 95 percent confidence interval [CI], –17.25 to –9.42; p<0.001) when compared with presupplementation.

In addition, there were significant reductions seen in the mean velocity of oscillations of the centre of pressure (CoPv; firm [EO: MD, 0.52, 95 percent CI, 0.69–2.92; p<0.01; EC: MD, 0.75, 95 percent CI, 0.24–3.45; p<0.05] and foam [EO: MD, 0.64, 95 percent CI, 1.71–4.44; p<0.001; EC: MD, 1.04, 95 percent CI, 3.51–7.97; p<0.001]) and simple reaction time (SRT; MD, 59.31, 95 percent CI, 103.02–168.71; p<0.001).

“These improvements were probably related to the enhanced bioavailability of iron, which may have influenced neural processes inducing improvements in attention capacity and proprioceptive acuity,” the authors said. 

In this study, 15 women with IDA received 160 mg of elemental iron daily in the form of dried ferrous sulfate capsules (80 mg twice daily) taken in two divided doses for 8 weeks. The authors recorded the CoPv to assess postural control pre- and postsupplementation. They also performed SRT and weight discrimination tests to analyse the attentional capacity and proprioceptive acuity.