Riboflavin deficiency in pregnant women in a public institution of São Paulo city, SP, Brazil Avaliação da deficiência de riboflavina em gestantes de uma instituição pública da cidade de São Paulo, SP, Brasil

In a prospective study, the riboflavin nutritional status was evaluated in pregnant women to whom varied vitamin doses were given and in women who did not receive any vitamin supplementation during gestation. Riboflavin nutritional determination was assessed by means of glutathione reductase activation coefficient (GR-AC), and the value higher than 1.5 was considered as indicative of riboflavin deficiency. The pregnant women were divided into four groups: 123 pregnant women to whom any vitamin supplementation were not given, 25 who daily received 2.5 to 3.5mg of riboflavin, 53 who were daily supplemented with 1.0 to 1.7mg of riboflavin, and 22 to whom were daily given <0.85mg of riboflavin. The women group daily supplemented with 2.5 to 3.5mg riboflavin showed the lowest riboflavin deficiency, and the other groups (64.5%) presented vitamin deficiency with GR-AC higher than 1.5. These data suggest that the vitamin concentrations found in the commercially available vitamin supplemented – preparations, as well as those found in ingested food were insufficient to provide a good nutritional status for pregnant women. These findings strongly suggest that riboflavin deficiency has in fact been a relevant public health problem in Sao Paulo city.