Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
Iron deficiency, or sideropenia, is the state in which a body lacks enough iron to supply 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 as a key component of the hemoglobin protein, acting as a transport medium for electrons within the cells in the form of cytochromes, and facilitating oxygen ...
Nutritional causes are vitamin and mineral deficiencies and non-nutritional causes include infections. The number one cause of this type of anemia, however, is iron deficiency. [12] An insufficient intake of iron, Vitamin B12, and folic acid impairs the bone marrow function. The lack of iron within a person's body can also stem from ulcer bacteria.
Iron is an essential part of hemoglobin, and low iron levels result in decreased incorporation of hemoglobin into red blood cells. In the United States, 12% of all women of childbearing age have iron deficiency, compared with only 2% of adult men. The incidence is as high as 20% among African American and Mexican American women. [75]
In women, iron deficiency anemia has also been linked to mortality during pregnancy, lower birth rates, difficulty with milk production and possible lower IQs in children if the iron deficiency ...
The prevalence of iron deficiency as a cause of anemia varies among countries; in the groups in which anemia is most common, including young children and a subset of non-pregnant women, iron deficiency accounts for a fraction of anemia cases in these groups (25% and 37%, respectively). [76] Iron deficiency is common in pregnant women. [77]
The human diet contains iron in two forms: heme iron and non-heme iron. Heme iron is usually found in red meat, whereas non-heme iron is found in plant based sources. Heme iron is the most easily absorbed form of iron. In those with hemochromatosis undergoing phlebotomy for treatment; restriction of dietary iron is not required.
Latent iron deficiency (LID), also called iron-deficient erythropoiesis, [1] is a medical condition in which there is evidence of iron deficiency without anemia (normal hemoglobin level). [2] It is important to assess this condition because individuals with latent iron deficiency may develop iron-deficiency anemia.
A recent study finds that 40% of young women and girls are deficient in iron, but their symptoms are often dismissed by some doctors. A ’startling’ number of young women and girls are ...