The aim of the present study was to investigate the beneficial action, in vivo, of pectin against subacute lead acetate (350 mg/l) intoxication. The adverse effects of lead on the haematological disturbances that concerned, more precisely, the decrease of red blood corpuscle life duration and on the appearance of ever granulated basophilic haematites by inhibiting an enzyme responsible for haeme synthesis have been demonstrated after 1 month of oral lead administration to female Wistar rats. Also, this caused an elevation of the blood lead level as compared with the control group. The introduction of carrot pectin to a level of 3% in the feeding of intoxicated rats has shown a chelating and correcting effect on haematological disturbances caused by lead toxicity, which is reflected by a significant decrease (P<0.05) of blood lead (from 117 to 65 to 19 μg/l), zinc protoporphyrine (portophyrine-zinc from 7.7 to 5.1 to 3.5 μg/g of Hb), increase in haemoglobin to 27% (from 5.09 to 6.05 to 7.79%) and iron to 8% (from 1.34 to 0.9 to 0.5%) of the treated rats by pectin as compared with the untreated groups. Differences in blood lead were significant between the control diet and the addition of pectin therefore suggesting that pectin fibre ingestion in diets decreases the risk of lead poisoning.