Iron deficiency can cause symptoms such as fatigue, lightheadedness, and anemia. It can be caused by excessive bleeding, poor diet, or medical problems. Iron-rich foods and supplements can prevent symptoms, and iron is essential for cellular respiration and oxygen delivery.
While iron deficiency symptoms vary, iron deficiency anemia is one of the best-known and perhaps most critical symptoms. When the bone marrow doesn’t have enough iron, it can’t make the hemoglobin needed to keep red blood cells healthy, which can cause iron deficiency anemia. As a result, the bone marrow produces increasingly smaller red blood cells than in a healthy person. Eventually, this could lead to a reduction in the oxygen supply to organs, which can lead to organ failure and, in some cases, death.
Common symptoms
In addition to iron deficiency anemia, some other symptoms of iron deficiency are fatigue, lightheadedness, muscle weakness, irritability, looking very pale, and pica, an eating disorder in which the sufferer craves non-food items such as clay or chalk. In addition to these symptoms, anemia can also cause hair loss, shortness of breath, fainting, constipation, heart palpitations, ringing in the ears, visual hallucinations, numbness or burning sensations, and, rarely, sleep apnea.
Causes and treatment
Iron deficiency can be caused by excessive bleeding, not eating enough foods that contain iron, or a diet or medical problem that interferes with the body’s absorption of the mineral. On average, women are ten times more likely than men to develop this condition due to blood lost during menstruation. Anemia is the final stage of iron deficiency, but troubling symptoms can arise even before anemia occurs. Any symptoms of iron deficiency should always be taken seriously, as iron deficiency anemia can be life-threatening, but can be prevented with early treatment.
Many symptoms of iron deficiency can be prevented with proper diet or the use of iron supplements, unless they are due to malabsorption. Iron-rich foods include meats of all kinds, leafy green vegetables, beans, and tofu. People who have health problems or are planning changes to their diet should discuss these with a healthcare professional.
The role of iron
Iron is an essential nutrient for humans, as well as many other life forms. In humans, it helps regulate cellular respiration by providing the main source of energy for many different types of cells in the body to do their jobs. It is also an important component of red blood cells, which deliver oxygen to all parts of the body and return carbon dioxide to the lungs for exhalation. Iron also helps store oxygen within muscle cells.
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