Understanding Iron, Anaemia And Your Diet!

This weeks article is inspired by a current client who recently got diagnosed with iron deficient anaemia, after a spell of feeling reeeally tired all the time (outside the norms of daily life!). However she had little idea of what that actually meant or how to support herself!

I’ve actually had quite a few clients over the years who discovered they had low iron levels so I thought I’d put something together to help increase your understanding of anaemia so you know what to look out for, how to avoid it and what to do about it!I think this is particularly important for those of you who have been living in a calorie deficit for a prolonged period, are on a long term weightloss plan or tend to restrict certain foods, as your chances of deficiencies go up.

What is Anaemia?

Put very simply, anemia is a problem of not having enough healthy red blood cells or hemoglobin to carry oxygen to the body's tissues. So if you have anemia, your body does not get enough oxygen-rich blood, and this is an issue as all our systems rely on oxygen in order to make energy and function properly.

What Causes It?

There are more complex medical conditions which can causes anemia but today we are going to look at the more common causes which we can support with our diet which are;

1.Iron deficiency anaemia. Not enough iron in the body causes this most common type of anaemia. Our bone marrow needs iron to make hemoglobin. Without enough iron, the body can't make enough hemoglobin for red blood cells which is needed to transport oxygen.

2.Vitamin deficiency anaemia. The body needs vitamin B-12 to make enough healthy red blood cells. A diet that doesn't have enough of this results in the body not making enough red blood cells and therefore has less available cells to transport the oxygen our body needs.

What Are The Symptoms?

• Tiredness.
• Weakness.
• Shortness of breath.
• Pale or yellowish skin
• Irregular heartbeat.
• Dizziness or lightheadedness.
• Cold hands and feet.
• Headaches

If you notice you have been suffering with these symptoms, a blood test is the best way to establish what’s going on and if you are in fact low in either iron or vitamin B12. You doctor can advise you on this but there are also lots of home testing kits if you want to check for yourself from companies such as medichecks .

For me the best approach is always to prevent health issues like this occurring in the first place, so even if you aren’t currently suffering here are a few considerations to help keep your iron and vitamin B12 levels where they should be!

Iron And How To Boost Your Levels

Iron is essential for helping transport oxygen throughout the body. Dietary iron comes in two forms: heme iron (from animal foods) and non-heme (from plant foods) with heme iron being more easily absorbed by the body.

Here are some of the foods you can include in your diet that are rich in iron;

Red meats, organ meats (particularly liver), kidney beans, brown rice, green leafy vegetables, pumpkin seeds, oysters, fortified foods.

Ideally we need

• 8.7mg a day for men
• 14-18mg a day for women

To give you an idea what that looks like, a decent palm sized steak has just under 2mg of heme iron and 100g of liver provides around 6mg. If eating organs is not your thing (I count myself on that list) you can actually take a supplement of freeze dried liver which is a great bioavailable source to boost your levels with instead! You’d need to eat a plate full of spinach to get the same amount of iron as a steak however keep in mind that as its non-heme iron you wouldn’t absorb as much as you would from heme iron sources.

You may have noticed that the daily amount of iron is higher for women and that is simply to support menstruation however the demand will drop to that of men when their cycle stops.

Heavy cycles can actually be a cause of low iron, and I advise all of my female clients to boost their intake of red meat around the time of their cycle to help support this.

It’s important to note that we need vitamin c in order to absorb the iron we take in so a dose of this alongside your iron intake is advisable when trying to boost your levels.

Vitamin B12 And How To Boost Your Levels

Vitamin B12 is an essential vitamin that your body needs but cannot produce. We therefore have to get it from our diet. It may benefit your body and overall health in different ways including your bones, hair, and skin. It has a key role in supporting the function of your nerve cells and in relation to anaemia, is needed for red blood cell formation.

Deficiency can show up with symptoms like extreme tiredness, a lack of energy, and pins and needles.For adults the recommended daily in take is 2.4 micrograms and here are some food sources you can get your daily dose from;

Liver, trout, salmon, tuna, haddock, egg, milk, cheese.

If you are a women with a heavy cycle , vitamin B12 might be one worth supplementing as it will be needed to help in the production of new red blood cells after menstruation occurs. This can help reduce the feeling of tiredness and fatigue each month.

I hope that helps you understand iron anaemia and the impact your diet has on this a little better, and also what to look out for and include in your diet so you don’t become deficient in the first place!

I hope you have a great week,

Lizzie

The One Percent Club