Permission from the Rector of University, the Governor of Malatya and the Director of Malatya Health Directorate was taken to conduct the field survey. Data collection was performed between November 2003 and May 2004 by two teams with three persons in each team. In rural areas, selected women were visited at their homes in association with midwifes while in urban areas they were invited to the health units. After giving voluntary and informed consent, women were administered a face to face questionnaire including items about socio-demographic, fertility characteristics, diet behavior and anemia history. Questionnaire pretest was conducted on a different pregnant women group before the survey. Finally, a total of 10 ml of venous blood sample was obtained from each participant. Two ml blood was drawn into EDTA for complete blood count (CBC) and 8 ml was drawn into plain glass tubes for use in biochemical analysis.