ANEMIA. IRONING OUT FATIGUE

In Greek, the word anemia means "no blood." But that's an exaggeration. People with anemia have plenty of blood. It's just that the red blood cells are not carrying their usual complement of energy -giving oxygen.

There are many forms of anemia, but the most common is iron –deficiency anemia. When you're not getting enough iron in your diet or you are losing blood—as a result of menstruation, for example—the oxygen -carrying capacity of your blood can drop precipitously. Deprived of oxygen, you wilt. Anemia can make you feel sluggish and weak. Your brain feels fuzzy. You're always cold.

It is estimated that about one-third of U.S. women have low iron stores and are at risk fix anemia. Luckily, it's generally an easy condition to correct. And the cure is our favorite thing—food.

IRONING OUT THE PROBLEM

Women of childbearing age need 15 milligrams of iron a day for good health. Women past menopause and men need 10 milligrams. Pregnant women need a much higher amount -30 milligrams a day. It's virtually impossible to get that much iron in the diet, so obstetricians often prescribe supplements.

For the rest of us, how hard is it to get enough iron in food? It's not too tricky if you eat meat, fish, and poultry. These foods contain substantial amounts of iron. For example, 3 ounces of steamed blue mussels has 6 milligrams of iron. A 3 -ounce serving of lean, broiled top round steak has 3 milligrams, and the same amount of roasted white turkey meat has 1 milligram.

If you eat little or no meat, though, you'll need to pay more attention to your diet. It's not that vegetables don't have iron. A half -cup of canned pumpkin, for example, has 2 milligrams of iron. Kidney beans and lentils have 3 milligrams in a half -cup serving. As you can see, the total amount of iron isn't the problem with these foods. Something called bioavailability is.

INCREASING ABSORPTION

Bioavailability refers to how well our bodies absorb the nutrients we eat. There are two forms of iron with vastly different levels of bioavailability. The iron found in meat, fish, and shellfish, called heme iron, is readily absorbable. The iron found in plant foods, called nonheme iron, is less so.

Here's an example. Of the 6 milligrams of iron in 3 ounces of mussels, roughly 15 percent will be absorbed by your body. Only 3 percent of the 3 milligrams of iron in a half -cup of lentils, however, will be absorbed, explains Victor Herbert, M.D., professor of medicine at Mount Sinai School of Medicine and Bronx Veterans Affairs Medical Center, both in New York City, and co-editor of Total Nutrition.

It's possible to boost the bioavailability of iron with savvy eating. For example, pairing a food that contains vitamin C with a food that contains iron guarantees that you'll get substantially more of the iron into your bloodstream. "Iron is best absorbed in an acidic environment, particularly ascorbic acid—vitamin C," says Carol Fleischman, M.D., assistant professor of medicine at Allegheny University Hospitals in Philadelphia.

Similarly, combining meats and vegetables in the same meal makes it easier to get more iron. The heme iron in meats "potentiates" the iron in vegetables, making it easier to absorb.

"You don't need to spend too much time worrying about the proportion of vitamin C to iron in your food, or the proportion of heme food to nonheme food," adds Dr. Fleischman. "Coordinating it all does give the most benefits, but if a woman is iron -deficient, her absorption of iron will be much more avid. So the more iron she eats, the more she absorbs."

TO BE CONTINUED ( BOOSTINGYOUR IRON STORLS )

another healthy information Health info

Title Post: ANEMIA. IRONING OUT FATIGUE
Rating: 100% based on 99998 ratings. 5 user reviews.
Author: Unknown
Thank you for visit foodsforheal.blogspot.com