Iron Deficiency
Helping
you cure the most common Anemia Disorder with Iron Rich Foods
 Above: The molecular structure of an Iron
(Fe) atom uploaded to Flickr by cookipedia. Iron
plays an important role in our red blood cells; our blood couldn't live
without it. And yet it is grouped as a MINOR mineral (AKA a TRACE
mineral). It's even worse if you add
diabetes on top! In fact this is the most common nutrient deficiency in
the world. How does Iron deficiency
interfere with Diabetes? This
deficiency is loosely related to diabetes as it can interfere with your
blood sugar levels.Iron is needed to form haemoglobin (keep reading if
you don't know what this is) which carries oxygen round thebody.
Obviously we need oxygen and glucose to create energy. Insufficient oxygen can make our bodies struggle to make
energy creating a chain reaction that could interfere with your blood
sugar levels. And it doesn't help if you're also a woman! So whose at risk? Everyone.
But those with the highest risk are: - Infants
under 24 months
- Teenage girls (due to puberty)
- Pregnant
women
- & The elderly
What
is iron deficiency, really? Iron
deficiency is the most common form of anaemia (commonly spelt
anemia/anemic). Anemia is a condition where youroxygen carrying
haemoglobin level (commonly spelt haemoglobin) is below normal. Hard to
believe that diabetes may notbe your only condition! Don't worry though, there are many types of anemia. And
Iron anemia is possibly the least serious condition so you shouldn't
need to worry about being anemic. HAEMA-WHO???
HAEMA-WHA??? No, Haemoglobin
(he-moe-globe-in).
It is a chemical present in the red blood
cells making blood red and helps make energy to transport round the
body. I'll refer to this chemical throughout this page. If you want a more in-depth description of haemoglobin,
its properties and chemical reactions, use the links below. Iron Anemia Symptoms Here are a handful of symptoms of iron deficiency anemia.
Some will occur early whereas others may become apparent if your
deficiency is long-term! - Tiredness
and palpitations (unusual heartbeat patterns)
- Shortness of
breath
- Dizziness/fainting
- Chest Pain (Angina), leg pains
(intermittent claudication), headaches
- Burning/Dryness/Sores
around the mouth and tongue
- Soft, stripy, spoon-shaped nails (I
was tempted to say snails for the alliteration)
- Brittle hair
Why is iron deficiency anemia so common? Well this isn't a good time to be woman :^) No really,
due to the menstruation cycle, pregnancy and puberty, women lose a lot
of blood. And since iron is in our blood, every time you lose blood, you
lose iron. But that's not the only
reason, after all you may not want to admit it but men do exist
and they don't have periods! If you have
a poor absorption rate of minerals and/or a diet deficient in iron, you
are bound to have an iron deficiency. And this isn't a good time to be a
vegetarian/vegan either. Iron comes in
two forms: - Heme
- Non Heme
Each
type has a different iron absorption rate which can be poor if you're a
veggie/vegan.
Heme Iron is the easiest
to absorbed as it is bound to haemoglobin and myglobin (the same way
iron is bound in our blood).It is found in many animal products. Non Heme Iron is poorly absorbed and it is found in
plant foods and crops. The E.U RDA for Iron is around 15mg Depending on
your age) but you will need to consume much more if you only eat iron
in food that are vegetarian approved. How
to have a balanced diet with adequate iron. If you follow the balanced diet outlined in the
food groups pages, here you should not need to worry about iron
deficiency. A balanced diet willtypically have Heme and NonHeme iron
from the grains, meat and beans and vegetable groups. Iron rich foods can mainly be found in the
following food groups: Tofu, Quinoa and Soya
beans are iron rich foods but they are Non Heme iron. For more specific
examples head to the food group pages above. If you're a vegetarian most if not all of your iron will be
Non Heme (not so great if you have an Indian diet). Obviously 15mg of
Non Heme iron won't be enough since as little as 2% of NonHeme Iron can
be absorbed! So don't follow the
guidelines too strictly. Also consider, pregnant women need around 27mg
of Iron per day and that our bodies have precautions to avoid an iron
overdose (extremely rare).
I bet you don't know these facts about Iron (Fe): Ever noticed kids licking wallpaper or eating mud? Small children have an instinct that most of us lose as we
"know" more. If you see kids do this they are probably low in ironas
these very weird sources contain iron! Iron
in water Iron in water is not
necessarily a good thing. Iron in water is likely to be pure, as in (Fe)
the iron ore. Iron isoxidised easily (it rusts) when it hits air. When it does, it forms Iron Oxide and changes colour to an
orangey brown. Iron oxide (FeO) can become toxic so it is limited to
about 0.2mg/l of water and is used as a water quality indicator. For this reason iron in water is not a viable source of
iron. Ever tried to give blood and
been refused? Doctors have to be
very finicky with the blood they can give to others. The quality of the
blood has to be good and oneway to measure this is to measure the iron
content and haemoglobin in your blood. After
they take your blood sample, they may tell you that you cannot donate
as you have an iron deficiency! They may even give you a prescription
for iron supplements! Just goes to show,
you can't help others till you help yourself.
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