Despite admonitions for women to seek prenatal care early in their pregnancy or even before, that sometimes doesn’t happen. New research from BJOG: An International Journal of Obstetrics & Gynecology reviewed the health records of women with a child diagnosed with heart defects. The study found anemia was strongly related to congenital heart issues at birth. After adjusting for possible influencing factors, researchers found the odds of giving birth to a child with congenital heart disease was forty-seven percent higher among anemic mothers. Authors say because iron deficiency is the root cause of many cases of anemia, iron supplements early in pregnancy could help prevent congenital heart disease before it develops.