Iron is present in all cells in the human body and has several vital functions, such as: carrying oxygen to the tissues from the lungs as a key component of the hemoglobin protein; acting as a transport medium for electrons within the cells in the form of cytochromes; facilitating oxygen enzyme reactions in various tissues. Too little iron can interfere with these vital functions and lead to morbidity and death.
sideropenia, hypoferremiaDiseasesDB = 6947
|Iron in heme|
|Classification and external resources|
Total body iron averages approximately 3.8 g in men and 2.3 g in women. In blood plasma, iron is carried tightly bound to the protein transferrin. There are several mechanisms that control human iron metabolism and safeguard against iron deficiency. The main regulatory mechanism is situated in the gastrointestinal tract. When loss of iron is not sufficiently compensated by adequate intake of iron from the diet, a state of iron deficiency develops over time. When this state is uncorrected, it leads to iron deficiency anemia. Before anemia occurs, the medical condition of Iron Deficiency without anemia is called Latent Iron Deficiency (LID) or Iron-deficient erythropoiesis (IDE).
Untreated iron deficiency can lead to iron deficiency anemia— a common type of anemia. Anemia is a condition characterized by inadequate red blood cells (erythrocytes) or hemoglobin. Iron deficiency anemia occurs when the body lacks sufficient amounts of iron, resulting in reduced production of the protein hemoglobin. Hemoglobin binds to oxygen, thus enabling red blood cells to supply oxygenated blood throughout the body. Children, pre-menopausal women (women of child-bearing age) and people with poor diet are most susceptible to the disease. Most cases of iron deficiency anemia are mild, but if not treated can cause problems like fast or irregular heartbeat, complications during pregnancy, and delayed growth in infants and children.
Signs and symptomsEdit
Symptoms of iron deficiency can occur even before the condition has progressed to iron deficiency anemia.
Symptoms of iron deficiency are not unique to iron deficiency (i.e. not pathognomonic). Iron is needed for many enzymes to function normally, so a wide range of symptoms may eventually emerge, either as the secondary result of the anemia, or as other primary results of iron deficiency. Symptoms of iron deficiency include:
- hair loss
- brittle or grooved nails
- Hair Thinning
- Plummer–Vinson syndrome: painful atrophy of the mucous membrane covering the tongue, the pharynx and the esophagus
- impaired immune function
- restless legs syndrome
Continued iron deficiency may progress to anaemia and worsening fatigue. Thrombocytosis, or an elevated platelet count, can also result. A lack of sufficient iron levels in the blood is a reason that some people cannot donate blood.
- chronic bleeding (hemoglobin contains iron)
- inadequate intake (see below)
- substances (in diet or drugs) interfering with iron absorption
- Fluoroquinolone antibiotics
- malabsorption syndromes
- inflammation where it is adaptive to limit bacterial growth in infection, but is also present in many other chronic diseases such as Inflammatory bowel disease and rheumatoid arthritis
- blood loss (via donation, menstruation, injury, etc.)
- parasitic infection
Possible reasons that athletics may contribute to lower iron levels includes mechanical hemolysis (destruction of red blood cells from physical impact), loss of iron through sweat and urine, gastrointestinal blood loss, and haematuria (presence of blood in urine). Although small amounts of iron are excreted in sweat and urine, these losses can generally be seen as insignificant even with increased sweat and urine production, especially considering that athletes' bodies appear to become conditioned to retain iron better. Mechanical hemolysis is most likely to occur in high-impact sports, especially among long distance runners who experience "foot-strike hemolysis" from the repeated impact of their feet with the ground. Exercise-induced gastrointestinal bleeding is most likely to occur in endurance athletes. Haematuria in athletes is most likely to occur in those that undergo repetitive impacts on the body, particularly affecting the feet (such as running on a hard road, or Kendo) and hands (e.g. Conga or Candombe drumming). Additionally, athletes in sports that emphasize weight loss (e.g. ballet, gymnastics, marathon running, and wrestling) as well as sports that emphasize high-carbohydrate, low-fat diets, may be at an increased risk for iron deficiency.
A U.S. federal survey of food consumption determined that for women and men over the age of 19, average consumption from foods and beverages was 18.0 and 13.1 mg/day, respectively. For women, 16% in the age range 14–50 years consumed less than the Estimated Average Requirement (EAR), for men ages 19 and up, fewer than 3%. Consumption data were updated in a recently published government survey on food consumption reported that for men and women ages 20 and older the average iron intakes were, respectively, 16.6 and 12.6 mg/day. Consumption below the EAR continues to be rare for men (EAR=6.0 mg/day), whereas a significant minority for women presumed to be menstruating, i.e., ages 14 to 50 years (EAR 7.9 mg/day for teens and 8.1 mg/day for older women).
- A complete blood count can reveal microcytic anemia, although this is not always present – even when iron deficiency progresses to iron-deficiency anemia.
- Low serum ferritin see below
- Low serum iron
- High TIBC (total iron binding capacity), although this can be elevated in cases of anemia of chronic inflammation.
- It is possible that the fecal occult blood test might be positive, if iron deficiency is the result of gastrointestinal bleeding; although the sensitivity of the test may mean that in some cases it will be negative even with enteral blood loss.
As always, laboratory values have to be interpreted with the lab's reference values in mind and considering all aspects of the individual clinical situation.
Serum ferritin can be elevated in inflammatory conditions; so a normal serum ferritin may not always exclude iron deficiency, and the utility is improved by taking a concurrent C-reactive protein (CRP). The level of serum ferritin that is viewed as "high" depends on the condition. For example, in inflammatory bowel disease the threshold is 100, where as in chronic heart failure (CHF) the levels are 200.
Before commencing treatment, there should be definitive diagnosis of the underlying cause for iron deficiency. This is particularly the case in older patients, who are most susceptible to colorectal cancer and the gastrointestinal bleeding it often causes. In adults, 60% of patients with iron deficiency anemia may have underlying gastrointestinal disorders leading to chronic blood loss. It is likely that the cause of the iron deficiency will need treatment as well.
Upon diagnosis, the condition can be treated with iron supplements. The choice of supplement will depend upon both the severity of the condition, the required speed of improvement (e.g. if awaiting elective surgery) and the likelihood of treatment being effective (e.g. if has underlying IBD, is undergoing dialysis, or is having ESA therapy).
Examples of oral iron that are often used are ferrous sulfate, ferrous gluconate, or amino acid chelate tablets. Recent research suggests the replacement dose of iron, at least in the elderly with iron deficiency, may be as little as 15 mg per day of elemental iron.
Mild iron deficiency can be prevented or corrected by eating iron-rich foods and by cooking in an iron skillet. Because iron is a requirement for most plants and animals, a wide range of foods provide iron. Good sources of dietary iron have heme-iron, as this is most easily absorbed and is not inhibited by medication or other dietary components. Three examples are red meat, poultry, and insects. Non-heme sources do contain iron, though it has reduced bioavailability. Examples are lentils, beans, leafy vegetables, pistachios, tofu, fortified bread, and fortified breakfast cereals.
Iron from different foods is absorbed and processed differently by the body; for instance, iron in meat (heme-iron source) is more easily absorbed than iron in grains and vegetables ("non-heme" iron sources). Minerals and chemicals in one type of food may also inhibit absorption of iron from another type of food eaten at the same time. For example, oxalates and phytic acid form insoluble complexes which bind iron in the gut before it can be absorbed.
Because iron from plant sources is less easily absorbed than the heme-bound iron of animal sources, vegetarians and vegans should have a somewhat higher total daily iron intake than those who eat meat, fish or poultry. Legumes and dark-green leafy vegetables like broccoli, kale and oriental greens are especially good sources of iron for vegetarians and vegans. However, spinach and Swiss chard contain oxalates which bind iron, making it almost entirely unavailable for absorption. Iron from non-heme sources is more readily absorbed if consumed with foods that contain either heme-bound iron or vitamin C. This is due to a hypothesised "meat factor" which enhances iron absorption.
Following are two tables showing the richest foods in heme and non-heme iron. In both tables, food serving sizes may differ from the usual 100g quantity for relevancy reasons. Arbitrarily, the guideline is set at 18 mg, which is the USDA Recommended Dietary Allowance for women aged between 19 and 50.
|Food||Serving Size||Iron||% Guideline|
|pork liver||100g||18 mg||100%|
|lamb kidney||100g||12 mg||69%|
|cooked oyster||100g||12 mg||67%|
|lamb liver||100g||10 mg||57%|
|beef liver||100g||6.5 mg||36%|
|beef heart||100g||6.4 mg||35%|
|Food||Serving Size||Iron||% Guideline|
|raw yellow beans||100g||7 mg||35%|
|soybean kernels||125ml=1/2cup||4.6 mg||23%|
|treacle (CSR Australia)||20ml=1Tbsp||3.4 mg||17%|
|molasses (Bluelabel Australia)||20ml=1Tbsp||1.8 mg||9%|
|candied ginger root||15g~3p||1.7 mg||8.5%|
|toasted sesame seeds||10g||1.4 mg||7%|
|cocoa (dry powder)||5g~1Tbsp||.8 mg||4%|
Iron deficiency can have serious health consequences that diet may not be able to quickly correct; hence, an iron supplement is often necessary if the iron deficiency has become symptomatic.
Blood transfusion is sometimes used to treat iron deficiency with hemodynamic instability. Sometimes transfusions are considered for people who have chronic iron deficiency or who will soon go to surgery, but even if such people have low hemoglobin, they should be given oral treatment or intravenous iron.
Bioavailability and bacterial infectionEdit
Iron is needed for bacterial growth making its bioavailability an important factor in controlling infection. Blood plasma as a result carries iron tightly bound to transferrin, which is taken up by cells by endocytosing transferrin, thus preventing its access to bacteria. Between 15 and 20 percent of the protein content in human milk consists of lactoferrin that binds iron. As a comparison, in cow's milk, this is only 2 percent. As a result, breast fed babies have fewer infections. Lactoferrin is also concentrated in tears, saliva and at wounds to bind iron to limit bacterial growth. Egg white contains 12% conalbumin to withhold it from bacteria that get through the egg shell (for this reason, prior to antibiotics, egg white was used to treat infections).
To reduce bacterial growth, plasma concentrations of iron are lowered in a variety of systemic inflammatory states due to increased production of hepcidin which is mainly released by the liver in response to increased production of pro-inflammatory cytokines such as Interleukin-6. This functional iron deficiency will resolve once the source of inflammation is rectified; however, if not resolved, it can progress to Anaemia of Chronic Inflammation. The underlying inflammation can be caused by fever, inflammatory bowel disease, infections, Chronic Heart Failure (CHF), carcinomas, or following surgery.
Reflecting this link between iron bioavailability and bacterial growth, the taking of oral iron supplements in excess of 200 mg/day causes a relative overabundance of iron that can alter the types of bacteria that are present within the gut. There have been concerns regarding parenteral iron being administered whilst bacteremia is present, although this has not been borne out in clinical practice. A moderate iron deficiency, in contrast, can provide protection against acute infection, especially against organisms that reside within hepatocytes and macrophages, such as Malaria and Tuberculosis. This is mainly beneficial in regions with a high prevalence of these diseases and where standard treatment is unavailable.
- Hider, Robert C.; Kong, Xiaole (2013). "Chapter 8. Iron: Effect of Overload and Deficiency". In Astrid Sigel, Helmut Sigel and Roland K. O. Sigel. Interrelations between Essential Metal Ions and Human Diseases. Metal Ions in Life Sciences. 13. Springer. pp. 229–294. doi:10.1007/978-94-007-7500-8_8.
- Dlouhy, Adrienne C.; Outten, Caryn E. (2013). "Chapter 8.4 Iron Uptake, Trafficking and Storage". In Banci, Lucia (Ed.). Metallomics and the Cell. Metal Ions in Life Sciences. 12. Springer. ISBN 978-94-007-5560-4. doi:10.1007/978-94-007-5561-1_8. electronic-book ISBN 978-94-007-5561-1 ISSN 1559-0836 electronic-ISSN 1868-0402
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (3 April 1998). "Recommendations to Prevent and Control Iron Deficiency in the United States". Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR). 47 (RR-3): 1.
- CDC Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (3 April 1998). "Recommendations to Prevent and Control Iron Deficiency in the United States". Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR). 47 (RR3): 1. Retrieved 12 August 2014.
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. "Iron and Iron Deficiency". Retrieved 12 August 2014.
- "Mortality and Burden of Disease Estimates for WHO Member States in 2002" (xls). World Health Organization. 2002.
- Wintergerst, E. S.; Maggini, S.; Hornig, D. H. (2007). "Contribution of Selected Vitamins and Trace Elements to Immune Function". Annals of Nutrition and Metabolism. 51 (4): 301–323. PMID 17726308. doi:10.1159/000107673.
- Rangarajan, Sunad; D'Souza, George Albert. (April 2007). "Restless legs syndrome in Indian patients having iron deficiency anemia in a tertiary care hospital". Sleep Medicine. 8 (3): 247–51. PMID 17368978. doi:10.1016/j.sleep.2006.10.004.
- Badal S, Her YF, Maher LJ 3rd (Sep 2015). "Nonantibiotic Effects of Fluoroquinolones in Mammalian Cells.". J Biol Chem. 290: 22287–97. PMC . PMID 26205818. doi:10.1074/jbc.M115.671222.
- Nielson, Peter; Nachtigall, Detlef (Oct 1998). "Iron supplementation in athletes: current recommendations" (PDF). Sports Med. 26 (4): 207–216. PMID 9820921. doi:10.2165/00007256-199826040-00001. Retrieved 7 July 2013.
- Chatard, Jean-Claude; Mujika, Iñigo; Guy, Claire; Lacour, Jean-René (Apr 1999). "Anaemia and Iron Deficiency in Athletes Practical Recommendations for Treatment" (PDF). Sports Med. 4. 27 (4): 229–240. PMID 10367333. doi:10.2165/00007256-199927040-00003. Retrieved 7 July 2013.
- What We Eat In America, NHANES 2001–2002. Table A12: Iron.
- What We Eat In America, NHANES 2013-2014.
- Longmore, Murray; Ian B. Wilkinson; Supaj Rajagoplan (2004). Oxford Handbook of Clinical Medicine (6th ed.). Oxford University Press. pp. 626–628. ISBN 0-19-852558-3.
- Rockey D, Cello J (1993). "Evaluation of the gastrointestinal tract in patients with iron-deficiency anemia". N Engl J Med. 329 (23): 1691–5. PMID 8179652. doi:10.1056/NEJM199312023292303.
- Rimon E, Kagansky N, Kagansky M, Mechnick L, Mashiah T, Namir M, Levy S (2005). "Are we giving too much iron? Low-dose iron therapy is effective in octogenarians". Am J Med. 118 (10): 1142–7. PMID 16194646. doi:10.1016/j.amjmed.2005.01.065.
- Defoliart, G. 1992. Insects as Human Food. Crop Protection, 11:395-99.
- Bukkens SGF. 1997. The Nutritional Value of Edible Insects. Ecol. Food. Nutr. Vol. 36(2–4): pp. 287–319.
- Iron deficiency Food Standards Agency.
- Iron in diet. MedlinePlus.
- Mangels, Reed. Iron in the vegan diet. The Vegetarian Resource Group.
- Iron. The Merck Manuals Online Medical Library.
- iron rich foods. Rich Foods.
- Dietary Reference Intakes: Recommended Intakes for Individuals National Academy of Sciences. Institute of Medicine. Food and Nutrition Board.
- American Association of Blood Banks (24 April 2014), "Five Things Physicians and Patients Should Question", Choosing Wisely: an initiative of the ABIM Foundation, American Association of Blood Banks, retrieved 25 July 2014, which cites
- AABB (2011). Guidelines for Patient Blood Management and Blood. ISBN 978-1-56395-333-0.
- Lin, DM; Lin, ES; Tran, MH (Oct 2013). "Efficacy and safety of erythropoietin and intravenous iron in perioperative blood management: a systematic review.". Transfusion medicine reviews. 27 (4): 221–34. PMID 24135037. doi:10.1016/j.tmrv.2013.09.001.
- Kluger, M. J.; Rothenburg, B. A. (1979). "Fever and reduced iron: Their interaction as a host defense response to bacterial infection". Science. 203 (4378): 374–376. PMID 760197. doi:10.1126/science.760197.
- Nesse, R. M.; Williams, G. C. Why We Get Sick: The New Science of Darwinian Medicine. New York. page 30 ISBN 0-679-74674-9.
- T. William Hutchens, Bo Lönnerdal; Lactoferrin: Interactions and Biological Functions (1997). page 379 on Google Books
- Nesse, R. M.; Williams, G. C. Why We Get Sick: The New Science of Darwinian Medicine. New York. page 29 ISBN 0-679-74674-9.
- Weinberg, E. D. (1984). "Iron withholding: A defense against infection and neoplasia". Physiological reviews. 64 (1): 65–102. PMID 6420813.
- Gropper, Sareen S; Smith, Jack L; Groff, James L (2009). "Enhancers and inhibitors of iron absorption". In . Advanced Nutrition and Human Metabolism (5th ed.). Belmont, California: Wadsworth, Cengage Learning. ISBN 978-0-495-11657-8. Retrieved 2 October 2010 Alternative ISBN 0-495-11657-2
- Umbreit, Jay (2005). "Iron Deficiency: A Concise Review" (PDF). American Journal of Hematology. 78 (3): 225–231. doi:10.1002/ajh.20249. Retrieved 2 October 2010