Saturday, January 16, 2010

Iron Deficiency Anemia 101 - Pregnancy, Childbirth and Lactating Women

Anemia
Anemia is the most common disorder of the blood.

What is Iron Deficiency Anemia?

"Iron Deficiency Anemia (also called IDA) is a condition where a person has inadequate amounts of iron to meet body demands. It is a decrease in the amount of red cells in the blood caused by having too little iron. Iron deficiency anemia is usually caused by a diet insufficient in iron or from blood loss. Blood loss can be acute as in hemorrhage or trauma or long term as in heavy menstruation.

Iron deficiency anemia is the most common form of anemia. About 20% of women, 50% of pregnant women, and 3% of men are iron deficient."
Quote from Mamas Health

Are you at risk?

According to Health Scout
"High-risk groups include:

-Women of child-bearing age who have blood loss through menstruation
-Pregnant or lactating women who have an increased requirement for iron
-Infants, children, and adolescents in rapid growth phases
-People with a poor dietary intake of iron"

Does blood loss cause anemia?

"When you lose blood, you lose iron. If you don’t have enough iron stored in your body to make up for the iron loss, you’ll develop iron-deficiency anemia.

In women, low iron levels may be due to blood loss from long or heavy menstrual periods or bleeding fibroids in the uterus. Blood loss that occurs during childbirth is another cause for low iron levels in women."
Quote from National Heart Lung and Blood Institute


High iron foods?

"Your body needs iron to produce hemoglobin. Iron found in meats is more easily absorbed into your blood than the iron found in vegetables and other foods. To treat your anemia, your doctor may recommend eating more meat – especially red meat such as beef and liver – as well as chicken, turkey, pork, fish, and shellfish."
Quote from The Internet Encyclopedia of Science

The placenta for nutrition?

Over and over you will find research journals state that:

"Transitional metals, especially iron, (are) particularly abundant in the placenta"

Here are a few to get you started:
The Journal of Nutrition
Sage Journals Online
Mitochondria Research


Review:

Your body needs more iron during pregnancy.
Your body needs more iron after blood loss and/or childbirth.
Your body has supplied you with an extremely iron-rich organ.
You should reintroduce this needed iron back into your body.
Increasing your intake of iron will help prevent anemia.
Your own placenta pills are your own natural iron supplement.

1 comment:

  1. good blog :) here's more info on anemia if required http://www.whatisanemia.info/

    ReplyDelete