The reproductive ecology of iron in women

ABSTRACT Reproductive ecology focuses on the sensitivity of human reproduction to environmental variation. While reproductive ecology has historically focused on the relationship between energy status and reproductive outcomes, iron status is equally critical to women's reproductive health, given the wide‐ranging detrimental effects of iron‐deficiency anemia on maternal and infant well‐being. This review interprets the vast literature on iron status and women's reproduction through an evolutionary framework. First, it will critique the evidence for iron deficiency caused by blood loss during menstruation, reinterpreting the available data as ecological variation in menses within and between populations of women. Second, it will highlight the scant but growing evidence that iron status is implicated in fertility, a relationship that has deep evolutionary roots. Third, this review proposes a new hypothesis for the transfer of iron from mother to infant via pregnancy and breastfeeding: reproductive iron withholding. In this hypothesis, mothers transfer iron to infants in a manner that helps infants avoid iron‐mediated infection and oxidative stress, but trades off with potential risk of maternal and infant iron deficiency. Finally, this review explores two main factors that can modify the relationship between iron status and the gestation‐lactation cycle: (1) the relationship between long‐term reproductive effort (parity) and iron status and (2) supplementation schemes before and during pregnancy. The review concludes by suggesting continued research into iron homeostasis in women using evolutionary, ecological, and biocultural frameworks. Am J Phys Anthropol 159:S172–S195, 2016. © 2016 American Association of Physical Anthropologists