Learn About Iron Deficiency, The Impact On Health, Food Sources of Iron, and Daily Recommended Dosage for You

Iron deficiency is the most common nutritional deficiency worldwide. Having enough iron in our bodies is essential for good health and lack of it leads to many health threatening issues. Iron deficiency can have serious health consequences that diet may not be able to quickly correct; therefore, an iron supplement is often necessary if the iron deficiency has become symptomatic.

Iron deficiency, or sideropaenia, is the state in which a body has not enough quantity or quality of iron supply to meet its needs. Iron is present in all cells in the human body. and has several vital functions, such as: carrying oxygen to the tissues from the lungs, supplying oxygen to the heart and throughout the body,  acting as a transport medium for electrons within the cells, facilitating oxygen enzyme reactions in various tissues and in the digestive system.

Impact of Iron Deficiency

Too little iron can interfere with these vital functions and lead to morbidity and death. Total body iron averages approximately 3.8 g in men and 2.3 g in women.

When loss of iron is not sufficiently compensated by adequate intake of iron from the diet or supplements the problem of iron deficiency develops over time. When this problem remains uncorrected, it leads to iron deficiency anemia. Before anemia occurs, the medical condition of iron deficiency without anemia is called latent iron deficiency (LID). Anemia is a condition characterized by inadequate red blood cells (erythrocytes) or hemoglobin which binds to oxygen and helps red blood cells to supply oxygenated blood throughout the body. Iron deficiency anemia occurs when the body lacks sufficient amounts of iron, which is latent iron deficiency, resulting in reduced production of the protein hemoglobin. 

Iron is needed for many enzymes to function normally and properly, so a wide range of symptoms may eventually emerge, either as the secondary result of the anemia, or as primary results of iron deficiency.

Symptoms of iron deficiency include:

Constant or worsening fatigue, dizziness/light-headedness, especially upon standing, fainting, paleness of skin and lower inner eye lid, hair loss/thinning, twitching, irritability, weakness/lack of energy (motivation), brittle or spoon-shaped nails, dry damaged skin and hair, impaired immune function, soreness of the tongue, restless legs, cold feet and hands.

Inadequate Intake and Adequate Intake

A U.S. federal survey of food consumption determined that for women and men over the age of 19, average consumption of iron from foods and beverages was 13.1 and 18.0 mg/day, respectively. For women, 16% in the age range 14–50 years consumed less than the Estimated Average Requirement (EAR), for men ages 19 and up, fewer than 3%. Consumption data were updated in a recently published government survey on food consumption reported that for men and women ages 20 and older the average iron intakes were, respectively, 16.6 and 12.6 mg/day even lesser, giving that people are going for more quick-fix processed foods and that most of our foods have been depreciated in nutrients for various reasons. Consumption below the EAR continues to decline; for men (EAR=6.0 mg/day), whereas a significant minority for women presumed to be menstruating, i.e., ages 14 to 50 years (EAR 7.9 mg/day for teens,12-19 and 8.1 mg/day for older women,20-50). This is bad. That is why we have lower energy and are less active or vibrant.

Here's a table of age range and recommended daily intake of iron to help guide you.

Who Should Take More Iron?

Young children, pre-menopausal women (women of child-bearing age) and people with poor diet are most susceptible to the disease. People in these groups are advised to increase the iron level in order to avoid anemia and to maintain high positive energy since they are more vulnerable. Athletes or physically active people are encouraged to keep regular quality and quantity iron intake because they sweat a lot more and they experience destruction of red blood cells from physical impact. Haematuria in athletes is most likely to occur in athletes or physically active people that undergo repetitive impacts on the body, particularly affecting the feet such as running on a hard road or on the field (soccer, basketball).  Additionally, athletes in sports that emphasize whole body activities or weight loss (e.g. ballet, gymnastic, marathon running, and wrestling) as well as sports that emphasize high-carbohydrate, low-fat diets, may be more at an increased risk for iron deficiency. Everyone else that needs to increase the quantity and the quality of iron intake in their body should also get on it to improve proper bodily functions.

How to Get More Iron

It is important to get quality iron just as it is to get enough quantity of iron. The best way to get quality and enough quantity of iron intake conveniently is through food sources such as meats, seafood, fruits and vegetables, herbs, seeds and nuts, natural salts like Himalayan pink salt or Celtic salt. The key to getting quality and good quantity iron supply from food is not to cook or overcook these iron-rich foods because cooking some foods depreciates or destroys their nutrients. But you can easily and conveniently get your recommended iron intake regularly by using some of the now popular powdered raw (unprocessed/uncooked) iron-rich vegetables like (moringa leaf or spirulina powder), which both have very high volume of quality dietary iron and/or get the Himalayan pink salt – you can use it to cook as regular salt or make sol (salt water drink-don’t overconsume it) to get it in the raw form. You can find these powders or salts from your local health food stores or you can pick them up on my website; I will appreciate your business and support.

The following two tables show the richest foods in heme (from animal) and non-heme (grains and vegetables) iron.  In both tables, food serving sizes may differ from the usual 100 g quantity. The guideline is set at 18 mg, which is the USDA Recommended Dietary Allowance for women aged between 19 and 50. 

Iron is found naturally in many foods and is added to some fortified foods. You can get recommended amounts of iron by eating a variety of foods, including the above listed foods or get handy powdered foods.

Iron in food comes in two forms: heme iron and non-heme iron. Non-heme iron is found in plant foods and iron-fortified food products. Meat, seafood, and poultry have both heme and non-heme iron.

Your body absorbs iron from plant sources better when you eat it with meat, poultry, seafood, and foods that contain vitamin C, such as citrus fruits, strawberries, sweet peppers, tomatoes, and broccoli. So many foods are being made into powder or capsule form to allow people to easily take them, dried foods also retain their active nutrients better and longer than some fresh produce as they nutrients are trapped in their dry state and package while fresh produce naturally lose their nutrients as time goes by. If you are using dried options for iron intake you can sprinkle them on your stake, grilled chicken, seafood, soups etc.

Blood Transfusion

Severe cases of iron deficiency may result in blood transfusion, which is neither cheap nor fun. Blood transfusion process is sometimes used to treat iron deficiency with hemodynamic instability. Sometimes transfusions are considered for people who have chronic iron deficiency or who will soon go to surgery, but even if such people have low hemoglobin, they should be given oral treatment or intravenous iron.

Bioavailability and Bacterial Infection

Iron is needed for bacterial growth which makes its bio availability is an important factor in controlling infection. Blood plasma carries iron tightly bound to transferrin, importing iron into the cells, thus blocking from bacteria.

To reduce bacterial growth, plasma concentrations of iron are lowered in a variety of systemic inflammatory states due to increased production of hepcidin which is mainly released by the liver in response to increased production of pro-inflammatory cytokines such as Interleukin-6. This functional iron deficiency will resolve once the source of inflammation is rectified; if not resolved, it can progress to Anemia of Chronic Inflammation. The underlying inflammation can be caused by fever, inflammatory bowel disease, infections,Chronic Heart Failure (CHF), carcinomas, or after surgery.

Reflecting this link between iron bio availability and bacterial growth, the taking of oral iron supplements  in excess of 200 mg/day causes a relative overabundance of iron that can alter the types of bacteria that are present within the gut. A moderate iron deficiency, in contrast, can provide protection against acute infection, especially against organisms that reside within hepatocytes and macrophages.