Iron deficiency anemia affects 1.2 billion individuals worldwide, and iron deficiency in the absence of anemia is even more common.  Knowing so many people suffer from this deficiency, it's important to increase your awareness and stay in tune with your body so that you can make simple adjustments to avoid any lasting impact.

Let's start by talking about why iron is so important

Iron is a mineral that the body needs for growth and development. Your body uses iron to make hemoglobin, a protein in red blood cells that carries oxygen from the lungs to all parts of the body, and myoglobin, a protein that provides oxygen to muscles. Your body also needs iron to make some hormones.

How would you know if you are deficient?

Symptoms of low iron include lack of energy and fatigue (tired), weakness, dizziness, light-headedness, brain fog and shortness of breath. The skin could be abnormally pale or lack colour, and when you pull down the inner eyelid it will have a white appearance. The tongue may be sore or swollen, there may be heart palpitations and there may be a desire to eat peculiar substances such as chalk, dirt or ice (a condition called pica).

It's also important to know that you need different amounts of iron during different phases of life.
Here's a standard guide that shows the recommended amount by life stage:

What causes an iron deficiency?

Iron is bound up in food and it needs acid to liberate it. Having low iron is usually tied to heavy bleeding or low Hydrochloric acid in the stomach.

If you don’t have a heavy menstrual flow or bleeding hemorrhoids, and have ruled out the possibility of internal bleeding, then the culprit is most likely due to the fact that you have low Hydrochloric acid in your stomach.

Here are a few things that can cause low HCL in the stomach:

• Eating every couple hours exhausts HCL (ie. snacking!)
• Drinking with meals waters down HCL
• Overeating
• High stress levels or regularly eating on the go
• Not properly chewing food
• Drinking alcohol
• Antibiotic or pharmaceutical drugs
• Drug use

Now if you have very low iron and have been told you are anemic another possibility could be that you have a significant gluten insensitivity or are celiac. Gluten exposure damages the villi in the stomach which makes it hard to absorb essential nutrients. Be sure to rule this out as a possible cause of low iron.

To boost HCL consider adding:

• Fermented foods
• Bitter foods such as arugula, dandelion leaves, radicchio
• Herbs like ginger or dandelion root
• Foods high in zinc such as nuts and seeds, fish, oysters, meats (zinc is necessary to produce carbonic anhydrase, an enzyme involved in gastric acid production)
  
  

• Supplementing with Cayenne pepper at meal time
• Drink lemon water or apple cider vinegar in water before a meal

Try to only eat at mealtime, only drink between meals, and try to avoid stressful topics at the meal table as it interferes with the ability to digest.

Low Ferritin:

Ferritin is a blood protein that contains iron. If you have been told that you have low Ferritin levels (a reflection of how much iron your body is storing) you may not be eating enough protein. Iron uses protein to bind with ferritin in order to store it. Be sure to take a look at your diet to ensure you are getting enough protein!

Tissue Salts:

A natural way to help support the body and ensure iron levels remain stable is to consider adding Ferr Phos and Calc Phos tissue salts to your daily routine. Try taking 2 pellets of each daily for 4-6 weeks to see if your energy levels improve, and be sure to request iron and ferritin markers tested with your next lab requisition. Check out Introduction to Tissue Salts to learn more. 

Have questions? Reach out here to chat with Marci about what your experiencing.