Daily Medical Records

Iron deficiency anemia is due to inadequate intake of iron is most common in our environment. A poor or monotonous food can help or through ignorance or lack of economic resources, a habitual low in iron.

The main treatment of iron deficiency anemia is oral administration of iron. The amount absorbed is not linearly related to the amount consumed.

Furthermore, the emergence of side effects (nausea, constipation or diarrhea?) With iron preparations limit the number manageable. Treatment should continue for several months to replenish the body.

Dietary therapy is complementary to drug treatment and is intended to be included in the daily diet foods rich in easily absorbed iron and other foods, their nutritional composition that favor iron absorption both contributed through food as pharmacologically administered iron .

Through food, absorption depends on the chemical form in which minerals are found in food. Thus, the iron content in foods of animal origin (meat, liver, fish and egg yolk) and heme iron is better absorbed than nonheme provided by plants (or enriched grains, legumes, vegetables) .

There are nutrients that promote the absorption of iron from foods such as vitamin C and proteins, among others. Similarly, there are substances present in greater amounts in certain foods that interfere with iron absorption (oxalic acid, tannins, phytates?), And that should be taken into account when planning the food.

What is iron deficiency anemia?

The main cause in the development and occurrence of iron deficiency anemia is a decrease in organic iron stores, causing a parallel reduction in the number of red blood cells.

The human body contains about 4 g of iron of which the majority (about 2.5 g) are attached to a protein (transferrin) to form hemoglobin.

Thus, iron is essential for the formation of hemoglobin. In the liver, spleen and bone marrow is stored as ferritin is the iron in the body.

Every day, an adult loses about 1 mg of iron through the skin, mucous, feces and urine. Fertile women have higher losses through menstruation.

During pregnancy there is a degree of anemia caused by an increase in demand for iron by the fetus accompanied by an increased volume of circulating blood.

In adults the most common cause is usually chronic blood loss or decrease in the absorption of this mineral from diseases affecting the duodenum, part of the intestine near the stomach that produces the absorption of iron (ulcers, inflammatory bowel disease , hemorroidesl?).

Children often have this type of anemia during periods of rapid growth and development by increased requirements due to the constant growth of tissues.

Anemia is characterized by a decrease in hemoglobin concentration or the capacity to carry oxygen in the blood. Hemoglobin is the molecule that transports oxygen from the lungs to all body cells.

Hemoglobin deficiency may be due to a decreased number of red blood cells, also called red blood cell, blood volume or a reduction of hemoglobin content within them.

Red blood cells live approximately 100 days and is in the bone marrow where they are constantly producing new ones. To this end, the bone needs certain nutrients like iron, folic acid, vitamin B12 and protein among others.

Different types of anemias are classified according to their etiologic basis, ie the cause that provokes it.

The anemia caused by inadequate intake of nutrients involved in erythropoiesis are often called nutritional, although its appearance can also be related to a suboptimal use of these nutrients.

The symptoms coincide in most cases of anemia: fatigue, fatigue, weakness, irritability, pallor, anorexia or loss of appetite, nausea, diarrhea, mouth sores and hair loss, etc. The onset is usually insidious.

The skin, mucous membranes and nails are pale by the decrease of circulating hemoglobin. If anemia is long standing can be found atrophy of the taste buds of the tongue and other changes more pronounced.