Ferrous Bisglycinate

Ingredient context

Postpartum iron-deficiency anaemia is common, affecting a meaningful share of Indian women even before accounting for the additional blood loss of delivery, and the choice of iron form matters almost as much as the dose. Ferrous bisglycinate is a chelated, amino-acid-bound iron form selected specifically for its tolerability.

Evidence context

A randomised trial in pregnant women found that ferrous bisglycinate, even at a lower elemental iron dose, was non-inferior to standard ferrous sulfate for correcting iron status, while producing significantly fewer gastrointestinal complaints, the nausea, constipation and metallic taste that cause many women to abandon standard iron supplements partway through the course. A separate randomised controlled trial comparing ferrous bisglycinate with folinic acid against ferrous fumarate found comparable or superior improvements in haemoglobin, ferritin and other haematological markers, again with significantly fewer reported side effects.

This tolerability profile is the entire rationale for choosing bisglycinate over cheaper conventional iron salts: a supplement a postpartum mother actually finishes the course of is more clinically useful than a theoretically stronger one she stops taking after a week.