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Yuria Ito: Should Ferritin Testing Become a Routine Part of Prenatal Care in Japan?

Yuria Ito/LinkedIn

Oct 10, 2026, 09:52

Yuria Ito: Should Ferritin Testing Become a Routine Part of Prenatal Care in Japan?

Yuria Ito, Nutrition Therapist, shared a post on LinkedIn:

“In Japan, ferritin is often not included in routine blood testing during prenatal care, and iron status is still assessed primarily through hemoglobin levels.

However, hemoglobin alone does not necessarily reflect iron stores.

I work as a counselor at a medical institution that provides nutritional therapy, and when ferritin is measured in pregnant women, values such as 7 ng/mL or 8 ng/mL are not uncommon.

This concerns me deeply.

Pregnancy is a period of substantially increased iron requirements.

Iron deficiency can develop before hemoglobin falls enough to meet the definition of anemia, which means that relying mainly on hemoglobin may overlook depleted iron stores.

From the perspective of maternal nutrition, fetal development, and DOHaD (Developmental Origins of Health and Disease), I believe this deserves much more attention.

Should ferritin testing become a routine part of prenatal care in Japan?

I have been thinking seriously about what would be needed to make this happen.

One important first step may be greater awareness among obstetricians and other healthcare professionals of the clinical significance of ferritin when evaluating iron status during pregnancy.

If we want to support maternal health and the future health of the next generation, identifying iron depletion earlier may be an important part of that effort.”

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