Do you frequently feel tired or dizzy? Or do your hands feel cold? Do you have a feeling that you look pale or maybe your hair is falling off? One or all of these may be signs and symptoms of having iron deficiency anaemia. But before you get to that conclusion, confirm by doing blood tests to see if iron deficiency is there.
Check your red blood cells levels, haemoglobin levels, haematocrit levels, mean corpuscular volume levels and serum ferritin following a referral from the GP. If confirmed, iron deficiency anaemia requires treatment with supplements in addition to dietary modifications.
Regarding dietary modifications, you need to include heme and non heme sources of iron in your diet. Heme sources are primarily found in animal sources such as meat, offal, egg, fish and poultry. Heme iron is more readily absorbed by your body.
Liver offal is a valuable supplement for those suffering anemia. It's a rich source of iron and vitamin C. Vitamin C is necessary for the uptake of iron in the body.
Non heme iron is found in plant-based food products, but your body would not absorb as much iron as from the heme sources. You can still include these in your diet for a well-balanced and nutritious diet. Examples of non heme iron sources include fruits, vegetables and nuts such as pear, prune, dates, sultana, apricot, pineapple, blackberry, dandelion, pumpkin seed, almond and lentil. As for vegetables, go for dark green leafy vegetables such as spinach, parsley or broccoli.
Carob molasses is an excellent iron-rich sweet treat preferred over other sweet sources.
To enhance iron absorption in the body:
1. Include vitamin C sources such as citrus fruits when consuming iron. For example, you can include a spinach salad with lemon juice dressing. Pair lentils with tomato-based sauces or enjoy tomatoes with your red meat.
2. Fructose naturally found in fruits can increase iron absorption from non-heme iron foods. For example, adding pear to your spinach salad will increase iron absorbability. Also garnishing pomegranate seeds onto your hummus dip will increase iron absorbability from the iron in chickpeas.
3. Avoid pairing calcium with iron. Calcium inhibits iron absorption. This means avoid combining meat with cheese, eggs with cheese or cheese with spinach.
4. Avoid wheat products and refined sugar as much as possible as they can leach iron and other essential nutrients from the body.
5. Refrain from the intakes of caffeine or alcohol as these can inhibit iron absorption such as coffee, tea, chocolate and alcohol.
Supplementation with iron is also essential when a deficiency exists. A commonly known and effective supplement is Ferrograd-C which contains iron alongside vitamin C in it to enhance iron absorption. It is recommended to take one tablet daily or as recommended by your GP.
Common side effects of iron supplementation are gastric upsets such as constipation. Ferrograd-C however is associated with less of these side effects. If you still experience these side effects such as constipation when taking the iron supplements, boost your diet with fibres including fruits, vegetables and whole grains.
You need to follow the dietary modifications explained and supplementation for a period on average of 2 to 3 months. After this period, a new blood test should be done to check if iron deficiency is still present or not, and depending on the results either the treatment is continued, stopped, or other tests are needed for further investigations.
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