Iron deficiency anemia

from 2010-09 Melbourne

Matrimonials

BY GEETA KHURANA

Iron-deficiency anemia is the most common type of anemia. The term “anemia” usually refers to a condition in which your blood has a lower than normal number of red blood cells. Red blood cells carry oxygen and remove carbon dioxide (a waste product) from your body. Anemia can also occur if your red blood cells don’t contain enough hemoglobin.

Hemoglobin is an iron-rich protein that helps carry oxygen to your body. Iron-deficiency anemia usually develops over time if your body doesn’t have enough iron to build healthy red blood cells. Without enough iron, your body starts using the iron it has stored. Soon, the stored iron gets used up. After the stored iron is gone, your body makes fewer red blood cells. The red blood cells it does make will have less hemoglobin than normal.

Causes

Iron deficiency could be because of many non nutritional reasons such as genetic disorders, bleeding ulcers or hemorrhoids, gastrointestinal bleeding caused by aspirin or related drugs, frequent blood donations, colon cancer etc, but it can also be caused by lack of dietary iron especially in vegetarians. Women are especially prone to iron deficiency because of repeated blood loss during menstruation. Pregnancy also places extra iron demands on women since iron is needed to support the added blood volume, the growth of the fetus and blood loss during childbirth.

Symptoms

Fatigue, lethargy, weakness, poor concentration, and impaired immune function. Another peculiar symptom of anemia called pica is the desire to eat unusual things such as ice, clay, cardboard, paint or starch. Advanced anemia may also result in lightheadedness, headaches, ringing in the ears (tinnitus), irritability, pale skin, unpleasant sensations in the legs with an uncontrollable urge to move them (restless legs syndrome).

Sources of iron

Iron occurs in two forms in foods, heme and nonheme. Heme iron is found only in foods derived from the flesh of animals, such as meats, poultry and fish. Heme iron is so well absorbed that it contributes significant iron to the body. On average, heme iron is about 23% bioavailable.

“Bioavailable” in this situation means that the iron can successfully make its way from the food into our bloodstream. This 23% number for heme iron, however, is only an average. In practice, the amount of heme iron we absorb is highly variable. Food cooking methods and presence of calcium have a significant impact on bioavailability of heme iron.

Nonheme iron is found in both plant and animal foods. The rates of absorption of nonheme iron are lower than heme iron. Moreover, sources of nonheme iron often contain phytates, which bind to iron and carry it through the digestive tract unabsorbed.

* Liver extracts from beef (bovine) are a rich natural source of many vitamins and minerals, including iron. Liver extracts provide the most absorbable form of iron - heme iron - and other nutrients critical in building blood, including vitamin B12 and folic acid. Liver extracts can contain as much as 3 - 4 mg of heme iron per gram.

* Other red meats including beef, pork and lamb.

* Seafood such as oysters, clams, tuna, salmon, shell fish, sardines and shrimp, etc

* Chicken and turkey

* Egg yolk

* Green leafy vegetables such as spinach, mustard, mint, coriander, bok choy.

* Other vegetables such as including broccoli, Swiss chard, asparagus, parsley, watercress, Brussels sprouts.

* Whole wheat bread, wheat germ and oats.

* Some breakfast cereals, pastas, breads, and grains are enriched with iron. But you need to check the labels for these.

* Nuts and dried fruits are also considered to have good amounts of iron especially raisins, apricots, dates and prunes.

* Dried beans, molasses and tofu.

Iron absorption enhancers

* Acidic foods (such as tomato sauce) cooked in an iron pan can leech iron into the food and thus also be a source of dietary iron.

* Vitamin C increases the absorption of iron. Having a glass of orange juice with a vegetarian meal helps to enhance the absorption of iron.

* Vitamin C foods such as oranges, cantaloupe, strawberries, Kiwi fruit, red capsicum, grapefruit, etc.

* Tomatoes, tomato juice and peppers.

Meat, fish and poultry contain not only the highly bioavailable heme iron, but also a factor called MFP factor that promotes the absorption of nonheme iron from other foods eaten with them. Therefore, addition of meat in the diet along with vegetarian foods enhances the absorption of iron from vegetarian foods.

Iron absorption inhibitors

* Black tea contains tannins that strongly inhibit the absorption of non-heme iron. In fact, this iron-blocking effect is so effective that drinking black tea can help treat hemochromatosis, a disease of iron overload. Consequently, people who are iron deficient should avoid drinking black tea.

* Fibre is another dietary component that can reduce the absorption of iron from foods. Foods high in bran fibre can reduce the absorption of iron from foods consumed at the same meal by half. Therefore, it makes sense for people needing to take iron supplements to avoid doing so at mealtime if the meal contains significant amounts of fibre.

* Numerous kinds of phenolic compounds in beverages such as tea and coffee, herbal teas, cocoa and red wine form insoluble complexes with iron and may exist as an “iron-tannin” complex and thus inhibit iron absorption. Therefore, it is advisable to wait an hour after a meal to drink tea.

* Coffee interferes with the absorption of iron. However, moderate intake of coffee may not adversely affect risk of irondeficiency anemia when the diet contains adequate amounts of iron and vitamin C.

* Phosphates found in carbonated soft drinks can also decrease iron absorption.

* Soy is normally an important part of vegetarian meals as a high quality protein and is an excellent source of the healthpromoting phytochemical, genestein. However, most forms of soy (soy flour, soy protein isolate, and tofu processed with calcium sulfate) reduce the absorption of non-heme iron. The inhibitory effect can be largely eliminated by using fermented soy-based products such as soy sauce, (tempeh, natto, miso), iron fortified soy products.

* Oxalates, found in spinach and chocolate, may also decrease iron absorption by forming complexes with the mineral that cannot be absorbed through the digestive tract.

Eggs

The TRUTH about Humpty

Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall

Humpty Dumpty had a great fall

All the king’s horses and all the king’s men Couldn’t put Humpty together again!

Obviously Humpty was not really an egg. Well, what was he then? Apparently, Humpty might refer to King Richard III of England, the hunchbacked monarch, whose horse was named “Wall”. During the battle of Bosworth Field, he fell off of his steed and was said to have been “hacked into pieces”. But then again, Humpty Dumpty might have been a giant gun, a cannon, placed on a giant wall in the English city of Colchester. During the English Civil War (1642 - 1649), a shot was fired at the church that damaged the wall on which the cannon was positioned. The wall was damaged, causing the cannon to fall and break into pieces, which the King’s army could not reassemble, even though they tried.

Kids in the kitchen

Green eggs and ham

I would not eat them with a fox.

I would not eat them in a box. I would not eat them here or there.

I would not eat them anywhere.

I would not eat green eggs and ham.

I do not like them, Sam-I-am.

Dr Suess

How would you cook green eggs and ham, Cat-in-the Hat? Green food colouring, maybe?

Pearlofwisdom

Pearlofwisdom beating them. Better still, use herbs to make your eggs green. Chop up your preferred herbs and blend them in the blender with your eggs, some salt and pepper and a little milk, and cook as usual –omelette or scrambled!

A true friend is someone who thi n ks that you are a good egg even though he knows that you are slightly cr a cked BernardMeltzer

The present is an egg laid by the p ast, that has the future inside its shell. Zo

Did you know...

EGGS-cyclopedia

A large egg has less than five grams of fat, and less than 2 grams of saturated fat. Eating 2 eggs per day will not increase bad cholesterol for people with a normal blood cholesterol level.

Eggs have 11 vitamins and minerals. One ostrich egg is about the same weight as twelve chicken eggs.

A fresh egg will sink in water, a stale one will float. The colour of the egg shell is not related to quality, nutrients or flavour. White shelled eggs are produced by hens with white feathers and white ear lobes. Brown shelled eggs are produced by hens with red feathers and red ear lobes.

Yolk colour depends on the plant pigments in the hens’ feed. Natural yellow-orange substances, such as marigold petals, may be added to lightcoloured feed to enhance colour. Artificial colours are not permitted.

A hen takes 24-26 hours to produce an egg.

An egg shell has 7,00017,000 pores on its surface through which moisture and air go in and out. Store eggs in the fridge in their container, or else the fridge smells will get in to the egg. ML