Effects of Iron Deficiency
Written by Mystic on Wednesday, January 23, 2008Lethargy! Fatigue! Listlessness! People living in the fast lane attribute these symptoms to stress. Others are convinced that they need more sleep. But hear this! One real cause for all these woes is Iron-deficiency anemia. Let's know all about it and what you can do to keep it at bay. Read on What is Iron-deficiency! Iron- deficiency is a condition that occurs when the iron stores in the body get depleted. Take the case of Reena, 49, a marketing executive in a dot com. Says she, " I come home from work, cook dinner, usually do laundry or clean and I am wiped out. Maybe I should get more sleep, but it never seems to work that way." Reena has iron-deficiency anemia, the most widespread nutritional deficiency in the world that hits millions of people all across the world especially women. Who should be concerned! Should I be concerned about iron-deficiency? Well, if you're a woman between the age group of 18 and 55, the answer is definitely, yes! As mentioned earlier while people of any age and sex can develop this condition, pre-menopausal women are particularly at high risk. Moreover, menstruating women lose a considerable amount of blood every month and iron escapes right along with it. Unless iron is replaced, these monthly losses can deplete stores over time. But while pre-menopausal women need more iron then men, they generally tend to eat less, which complicates the challenge of getting more iron from food. This deficiency is also pretty common in infants and children and in adolescents of both the sexes. Poor food choices, blood flow and increased muscle mass contributes to the increased iron needs of teenagers especially girls.
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