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Iron Deficiency

Keeping the correct amount of iron stored in your body is a balancing act: too little iron can interfere with your vital functions and lead to anaemia; too much iron can lead to toxicity. The right amount of iron keeps you healthy and energetic.

What is Iron Deficiency?

If you do not absorb iron each day, your body's iron stores gradually run down. As your stores are used up, you become iron deficient. Over a long time, if iron deficiency is not corrected, you will develop iron-deficiency anaemia, a serious condition where red blood cell production falls and therefore decreases oxygen transport throughout the body.

Iron deficiency is the number one nutritional disorder in the world, in both poor and rich countries. Women are more at risk of iron deficiency than men, because of menstrual periods and pregnancy. Growing children are also at greater risk than men because of the iron needed during growth spurts.

Facts About Iron Deficiency
First Edition 2008

Contents

• What is Iron Deficiency?
• Why do you need iron?
• What happens if you have iron deficiency?
• Do you have enough iron in your diet?
• What causes iron deficiency?
• Is it possible you are just not absorbing the iron you eat?
• What are the signs of iron deficiency?
• Are you losing iron from bleeding?
• Are you at risk of iron deficiency?
• How does your doctor diagnose iron deficiency?
• How is iron deficiency treated?

Facts About Iron Deficiency is now available to download or read online as an A4 size pdf file.

Iron Deficiency (Adobe Acrobat PDF 184K)