Iron deficiency manifests itself with tiredness

Iron deficiency causes fatigue

09/29/2014

Fatigue, Dizziness, Facial Paleness: All these symptoms may indicate iron deficiency. If you have too little of this trace element in the body, you should change its diet. But beware: too much iron can be unhealthy.

Iron deficiency has significant health effects
Chronic fatigue, impaired performance, dizziness, difficulty concentrating or facial blanching: An iron deficiency is often first noticeable by nonspecific complaints. A deficiency of this trace element can have significant health effects. The reasons for this may be "in the diet, too low an iron absorption in the body or a strong blood loss." Many sufferers get the problem through home remedies for iron deficiency, such as through a diet change, under control.

Popeye - the strong spinach-eating seaman
It refers to Popeye, the sailor who gets superhuman powers through spinach. The comic figure certainly contributed to the fact that many people already knew in their childhood that spinach strengthens the muscles. The trace element iron plays an important role in human health. It can be read that it needs the organism for the oxygen transport, for various metabolic processes, the energy supply of the cells as well as for a powerful immune system. Iron is part of various enzymes, including one that makes the neurotransmitter dopamine in the brain. This neurotransmitter is important in the context of attention, sleep, learning, motor activity, behavior, and mood. Iron deficiency therefore produces less dopamine. "If the body lacks iron, it can lead to numerous symptoms in those affected". In addition to the symptoms described above, some patients also have torn corners of their mouth, fragile fingernails, dull hair or hair loss, hypersensitivity or depressive moods.

Diet of vegetarians and vegans
"Around 30 to 50 percent of all menstruating women have iron deficiency because of the regular blood loss," said biochemist and physician Peter Nielsen, head of the Eisenstoffwechselambulanz at the University Hospital Hamburg-Eppendorf, compared to "Spiegel Online". A growth-related iron deficiency would also have many children and adolescents between one and a half and three years and between 12 and 14 years. In people with obesity, the increased fat tissue in the abdomen may lead to increased release of inflammatory substances and as a result the body absorbs less iron. According to the article, endurance athletes, older people, people with high blood loss due to injury or with chronic inflammation in the gastrointestinal tract, as well as vegetarians and vegans are also at an increased risk of iron deficiency. This has to do with the fact that runners would often eat little meat to save animal fats and seniors would sometimes eat poorly. In a meat-free diet lack the contained iron. "Vegetarians and vegans should make their diet very carefully and intelligently. Then it does not have to iron deficiency, "said Nielsen. However, studies in recent years have consistently found that a corresponding risk for vegetarians is much lower than often stated. In addition to an adapted diet, you can meet an iron deficiency with the means of nature. For example, plant preparations with bitter substances, such as Swedish herbs, can remedy this situation.

Too much iron is also unhealthy
But not only too little, but too much iron in the body is unhealthy. Increased iron levels can be caused by, among other things, fatigue, irritability, joint pain, impotence or missed periods, liver damage, diabetes, cardiac arrhythmias, and a metallic gray skin color. "About one in 300 people in Germany suffers from the most common cause of iron overload, hereditary hemochromatosis, a hereditary iron storage disease," explained Nielsen. Dietary iron intake is usually curbed by the body's own protective mechanisms, as excess iron can cause oxidative stress in the cells. "But do not worry, with slightly elevated iron levels, the cells have antioxidant protection systems. Only at higher iron levels, the cells are damaged, "said Nielsen. In addition, the liver forms a hormone, which throttles the iron intake. However, this mechanism is genetically determined in people with the iron storage disease.

Too much meat can cause discomfort
As a result, too much iron is taken from the food and deposited first and foremost in the liver, later in other organs such as the pancreas and in the joints. As a result, rheumatoid joint problems occur and the sugar metabolism is increasingly disturbed. "Fortunately, relatively few of those affected by hemochromatosis get really sick," says Nielsen. The complaints usually occur at the age of 40 to 50 years. "Sometimes, however, even young people have pronounced symptoms, especially if they eat a lot of meat." As a treatment, this provides a bloodletting, which stimulates the blood replica, which consumes iron. At the beginning of treatment - including as part of a blood donation - the patient is relieved by about 500 ml of blood every one to two weeks for up to one and a half years in order to normalize the iron levels. Thereafter, the maintenance therapy begins, three to four bloodlettings a year to keep iron levels low. Nielsen concluded: "Recently, many obese people come to us because of their increased iron levels with suspected hemochromatosis. Many of these people have simply taken in too much iron from the large, mostly meat-rich amounts of food, and apparently working for them due to liver iron throttling is no longer correct. But they do not have hemochromatosis. "(Ad)