If you’re female and pre-menopausal, a vegan or vegetarian or you’ve got any kind of digestive problem you may well be at increased risk of iron deficiency symptoms.
Iron is an essential nutrient that is instrumental in performing many functions throughout our body every single day. One of the most important functions of iron is to help transport oxygen throughout the blood.
Iron deficiency is most commonly linked to the development of anaemia, which is a condition where there’s a lack of healthy red blood cells being produced. Iron is needed to produce haemoglobin, a type of protein found in red blood cells that has the role of carrying oxygen from your lungs and transporting it throughout your body to your cells.
An iron deficiency can mean that you aren’t able to produce enough oxygen-carrying red blood cells — therefore, your body struggles to transport oxygen to your brain, tissues, muscles and cells, leaving you feeling exhausted and weak.
If you’re worried your diet is impacting your gut health, I’d highly recommend downloading my online course The Ultimate Gut Health Programme to help support both your digestive sysem and hormone health, whilst avoiding triggering symptoms.
It’d be impossible to include all you need to know in one blog, but the programme will have all you need to know to ensure you’re soothing your digestive system, whilst eating delicious and filling foods.
Iron deficiency symptoms: Gut health
Aside from preventing anaemia, iron is a nutrient needed to maintain general well-being, energy and a healthy metabolism because it helps support overall cellular health and is involved in many enzyme functions. Iron plays a part in many enzyme reactions that help our bodies to digest foods and absorb nutrients. These reactions also balance hormone levels and support brain, heart, skin, hair, nail and metabolic health.
Iron deficiency symptoms
The symptoms of an iron deficiency are many and far-reaching, but the more common ones tend to be –
- Anaemia
- Chronic fatigue or low energy
- Paleness or yellowing of the skin
- Shortness of breath
- Abnormal heartbeats
- Signs of a hormone imbalance
- Trouble exercising
- Muscle weakness
- Weird food cravings like craving ice, or dirt.
So who’s more at risk –
- People with gut or absorption issues, or who restrict their diet.
- Women with heavy periods
- Pregnant women
- Vegetarians and vegans
If you are a vegetarian or vegan, you’ll want to be careful about getting enough iron and may want to consider taking an iron supplement. This is because the type of iron found in plant foods is known to not be as absorbable as animal sources of iron are. Iron from meat, poultry and fish − heme iron − is absorbed two to three times more efficiently than the iron from plants (non-heme iron) is absorbed.
Avoid iron deficiency symptoms by combining foods
The amount of iron absorbed in the body also depends on the other types of foods eaten at the same meal. Foods like meat or fish that contain the animal source of iron (heme-iron) enhance the body’s ability to absorb the type of iron present in plant foods (non-heme iron).
Iron can be found in plant foods such as spinach and beans, but when you eat these foods along with an animal source of iron, your body is able to use the iron better. Because foods containing vitamin C can also enhance non-heme iron absorption, this is another useful way for vegetarian and vegans to increase their iron stores.
Variety is key
It may seem complicated to pair the right foods together in order to absorb iron in the best way, but if you eat a varied diet overall that includes plenty of whole foods, you’re unlikely to need more iron.
So in general, try to eat a varied, whole-foods based diet that includes good sources of iron like grass-fed meat products, organic free-range poultry, cage-free eggs, organic (ideally unpasteurized) dairy products like raw milk, plenty of different fruits and vegetables, beans, and whole grains.
Avoid iron deficiency symptoms when eating a plant-based diet
Also, try to eat foods in combinations that help your body to absorb iron better. For example, you can pair a food that is naturally high in vitamin C (like leafy greens or citrus fruits) with beans to make a better source of iron, since vitamin C helps your body absorb the non-heme iron.
You can include some of these high vitamin C foods in your meals in order to increase your absorption of iron.
If you suspect you may be low in iron a simple blood test from your GP will tell you if you are or not, and then you can supplement appropriately, if you need to.
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