Ciągłe zmęczenie, senność mimo przespanej nocy i brak energii często tłumaczymy stresem. Tymczasem przyczyną może być niedobór żelaza – pierwiastka niezbędnego do transportu tlenu w organizmie. Jak rozpoznać jego objawy i skutecznie zadbać o właściwy poziom? Dowiemy się tego po przeczytaniu tekstu Ani Zając (klasa 4b), który ukazał się we wiosennym numerze naszej anglojęzycznej gazetki szkolnej AimHigh Magazine. Zapraszamy do lektury!
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The Hidden Fatigue
More Than Just Tired: Understanding Iron Deficiency
Do you ever get extremely tired after completing just one simple task, like taking the rubbish out? Or maybe you feel like you’ve hit the wall at 2pm despite having an eight-hour sleep and a coffee? Constant fatigue and feeling burnt out have many possible causes, but one of the most common ones is iron deficiency, which affects more than 30% of the world population. Without iron, the human body is struggling to breathe from the inside out since iron is an important component of haemoglobin. So iron is not only a mineral, it’s the fuel for our body’s oxygen supply.
First things first – what exactly is haemoglobin and what’s its role in the human body? Haemoglobin is an iron-rich protein found in red blood cells that carries oxygen from the lungs to the rest of the body and returns carbon dioxide from tissues back to the lungs. It is just like a delivery truck of the bloodstream and its fuel is iron. Therefore, low iron means low haemoglobin, which leads to low oxygen levels in tissues. Without oxygen, cells can’t carry out cellular respiration, and as an effect, they don’t provide energy. This is the cause of that tiredness mentioned above. To avoid it, the heart has to pump blood faster in order to compensate for the thin oxygen supply, long-term leading to shortness of breath or even palpitations.
While fatigue is the loudest and most obvious symptom, the body often suggests its distress through stranger channels. From the sudden, inexplicable urge to crunch on ice to the electric tingling in one’s legs at midnight, these oddities are the biological breadcrumbs leading back to empty iron stores. These are not the only results of iron deficiency. A full-blown deficit slips into an illness called anaemia, which often triggers a series of distinct physical and neurological red flags. These symptoms occur because iron is not only essential for oxygen transportation, but it is also a cofactor for the enzymatic reactions throughout the body. When iron storage (measured as ferritin) is low, the body starts to prioritise vital organ functions over secondary systems, leading to visible changes.
Luckily, it is easy to check the iron levels in our bodies. All it takes is a simple procedure, as fast as it is accessible, taking a blood test. After knowing the amount of iron in our bloodstream, it’s best to maintain it by eating the right products. We can get iron from a variety of foods, including plant-based foods as well as animal resources. The list is long, so to give the idea of product categories, I’m going to give some examples. Starting with meat, the best one is the liver, but any red meat will do, seafood is also mostly rich in iron, so try eating oysters, shrimp, sardines or others. In the plant-based category, we have spinach, broccoli, and legumes, then strawberries, dates, raisins or lentils. Iron can also be found in eggs and nuts.
Some foods help your body absorb iron from foods better, but others, like coffee, tea and calcium, can interfere with iron absorption. So it’s best not to consume calcium-rich foods with your iron-rich meals and put off drinking coffee or tea for later. As for products that can boost iron absorption, they are mostly rich in vitamin C.
Anna Zając (klasa 4b)
