Iron deficiency is the most common nutritional deficiency due to poor diets being the norm – and women, teens and children are among those at greatest risk.

Yet it is such an easy mineral to keep topped up through an iron-rich diet or supplementation.
Iron is critical for producing hemoglobin, the protein that helps red blood cells transfer oxygen from the lungs to every tissue cell throughout your body, produce energy and form antioxidants.

Symptoms of iron deficiency

Exhaustion
The most common symptom of iron deficiency, it's also the most difficult to detect because most women get so busy in their lives and expect to be tired often. It becomes their “new normal”. However, iron deficiency causes less oxygen to reach your tissues, so your body is deprived of the energy it needs. If your "normal" tiredness is coupled with feeling, weak, irritable, or unable to focus, an iron deficiency might explain it.

Heavy periods
When you lose blood you lose iron, and this happens every month.

Pregnancy
Severe iron deficiency anemia has been linked to premature births and low birth weight babies and growth problems in infants/children. Most women are well aware they need to take folic acid supplements during pregnancy, but they also need to keep their iron levels up afterwards for breastfeeding, and if they lost a lot of blood during delivery or have pregnancies close together.

Pale complexion
Hemoglobin gives your blood its red colour and your skin its rosy hue. If you have a light complexion, iron deficiency is easy to spot, but regardless of skin tone, if the inside of your lips, gums, and the inside of your bottom eyelids are pale, low iron may be the cause.

Shortness of breath
If your oxygen levels are low, you'll feel out of breath doing things you would normally handle easily, such as climbing stairs.

Feeling anxious for no reason
Iron deficiency can trick you into feeling anxious because a lack of oxygen revs up your body's sympathetic nervous system; increase your heart rate when you have every reason to feel relaxed.

Fast heartbeat
An overworked heart can end up suffering from irregular heartbeats, heart murmurs, enlargement, and even heart failure. But you would probably have had iron deficiency anemia for quite some time by that stage. It is important for people who know they have heart problems to get their iron levels checked and keep them up to avoid making existing heart conditions worse.

Restless legs syndrome
This is an uncomfortable tingling or crawling feeling that gets worse at night and can disturb sleep. About 15 percent of people with restless legs syndrome have an iron deficiency.

Headaches
While an iron-deficient body will prioritise getting oxygen to your brain before other tissues, the brain will still be getting less than it should, and its arteries may swell, causing headaches.

Craving clay, chalk, dirt, ice and paper
Called pica, craving (and eating) non-foods can be a sign of iron deficiency. Most women opt for ice!

Hair loss
Iron deficiency anemia can cause hair loss. It sends the body into survival mode, so it channels oxygen to support its vital functions rather than keeping your hair. Most scalps lose about 100 hairs a day.

Vegetarian or vegan
Vegetarians and vegans don’t have a higher incidence of iron deficiency than meat eaters, probably because they commonly eat foods high in iron and vitamin C. For instance, you would have to eat more than 1700 calories of sirloin steak to get the same amount of iron as found in 100 calories of spinach. However, not all iron is created equal. Your body absorbs heme iron from meat (poultry, oysters, turkey, beef and fish) two to three times more efficiently than nonheme iron from plants. The good news is that eating vitamin C at the same time as nonheme iron significantly increases its absorption – and you get the benefit of fibre as well, which meat doesn’t have. Dark leafy greens, whole grains and legumes are all rich in iron; pair them with vitamin C-rich foods such as bell peppers, lemon juice, berries, tomatoes and broccoli. Young people who decide to become vegetarian or vegan without first planning (and being able to afford or grow) nutritious meals are at risk of iron deficiency. You simply can’t meet your nutritional needs living off vege pizzas/burgers and other processed foods minus the meat!

Underactive thyroid
Iron deficiency slows your body’s thyroid function and blocks its metabolism-boosting effects. The thyroid gland is a small butterfly-shaped gland in the neck weighing almost 30g, which secretes hormones that control our metabolism. Metabolism is how we convert food to use as energy in our cells for all bodily processes. Six in 10 people with a thyroid problem don't know they have it, so if you notice low energy levels, weight gain, or even a lower body temperature, ask your healthcare professional to test your blood for thyroid function.

Odd-looking tongue
Yes, the tongue is a muscle and it will lose its colour due to reduced levels of myoglobin, a protein in red blood cells that supports muscle health. It could be sore and strangely smooth as a result of inflammation.

Celiac or inflammatory bowel disease
Even if you get enough iron, celiac disease and inflammatory bowel diseases like Crohn’s and ulcerative colitis can cause inflammation in and damage to the digestive tract, leading to problems absorbing nutrients including iron.

How much iron?

Recommended Dietary Allowances (RDAs) for Iron

Age	Male	Female	Pregnancy	Lactation
0-6 months	0.27mg*	0.27mg*
7-12 months	11mg	11mg
1-3 years	7mg	7mg
4-8 years	10mg	10mg
9-13 years	8mg	8mg
14-18 years	11mg	15mg	27mg	10mg
19-50	8mg	18mg	27mg	9mg
14-18 years	11mg	15mg	27mg	10mg

* Adequate intake

For more information on iron deficiency come in and see our caring staff at your local Health 2000.