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Background:
I’d like to now discuss iron deficiency anemia in detail. This is the most common form of anemia that affects about 1 billion (!) people worldwide, mostly women and children.
The cause of iron deficiency depends on some diet, lifestyle and environmental factors however, it is safe to say that once the ferritin is noted to be low, it needs to be worked-up thoroughly
In the Western part of the world, the most common cause of iron deficiency is GI blood loss- think ulcers, tears, GI cancer, angiodysplasia, celiac disease, H.pylori infection etc
Therefore, it is imperative to rule this out as a possibility before working up other causes.
In women, heavy menstrual bleeding accounts for the majority of iron deficiency cases.
Vegan or vegetarian diets also can cause iron deficiency over time.
Iron deficiency classically causes microcytic anemia, i.e the red blood cells become smaller in size.
Stages of iron deficiency:
Decreased serum ferritin as the body starts tapping into iron stores in the liver, spleen and bone marrow
Once the iron stores are exhausted, the transferrin saturation drops and serum TIBC increases (I have talked more about this in my prior post about understanding iron studies)
Then the cells start becoming smaller/microcytic and finally
Anemia develops when there is not enough iron to produce enough hemoglobin
Iron from your diet: Here is a list of some foods rich in iron
Red meat
Spinach
White beans
Iron-fortified cereals
Kidney beans
More details can be found here
It is important to note that co-ingestion of certain foods can enhance or impair the absorption of iron
Items that increase iron absorption : Vitamin C, legumes, eating heme-iron i.e the one found in red meat
Items that decrease iron absorption: calcium, tannins found in tea and coffee and phytates in cereal
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