This extremely common blood disorder can lead to fatigue, a feeling of weakness and poor concentration.
Fatigue can be a symptom of anaemia
What is anaemia?
Anaemia, also known as Iron Deficiency Anaemia (also called IDA) is a condition in which a lack of iron causes a drop in haemoglobin in the blood and red blood cells in the body. These red blood cells (RBCs) are responsible for carrying oxygen to the tissues.
The main causes of the anaemia are inadequate iron in the diet and too much of blood loss from the body.
Symptoms of anaemia
There are several symptoms of anaemia:
- The most common symptom is fatigue and a general feeling of “not doing so great”.
- Very pale skin
- Brittle nails
- Irritability
- Breathlessness, dizziness or chest pains
- Always feeling cold, often leading to cold hands and feet
- Headaches
- Loss of appetite, especially in children
Causes of anaemia
To understand anaemia, it’s important to understand the purpose of iron. Iron is a part of haemoglobin, whose main function is to carry oxygen in the blood. Iron is also a component of myoglobin, which in turn helps the muscle cells to store the oxygen.
Some of the most common causes of IDA are:
- Not enough iron in the diet: Strict vegetarians, people suffering from Celiac disease, those who chronically take antacids often suffer from a lack of iron
- Poor absorption of iron by the body
- Excessive blood loss due to an accident, haemorrhage, heavy menstrual flow etc.
- In developing nations such as ours, IDA is often caused by parasitic infection caused by hookworms, whipworms, and roundworms. These infections lead to intestinal bleeding caused by the worms and can lead to undetected blood loss in the stool.
Some other causes of anaemia include:
- When the iron stored in the body and in the bone marrow depletes, anaemia sets in. Studies show that women have less iron stored in the body as compared to men. Also, women lose iron more rapidly then men because of monthly periods.
- While a heavy menstrual flow can be one reason, menopause is also known to cause anaemia.
- Chemotherapy performed on cancer patients may damage the bone marrow, which in turn can cause the red blood cells to slow down their production and lead to anaemia.
- Sometimes different type of infections may strike and impair the bone marrow, ultimately leading to anaemia.
- Kidney failure may lead to lack of hormones secretion that is vital for the production of red blood cells by the bone marrow. Also certain cancers like leukaemia may result in lessened production of red blood cells and hence result in anaemia.
- AIDS (Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome) and HIV (Human Immunodeficiency virus) can also cause anaemia.
Who is at risk?
Pure vegetarians seem to be more prone to anaemia as iron rich foods like meat especially red meat, are not consumed by them. Also, pregnant or lactating women need to careful they get the right amount of iron in order to prevent anaemia. Infants and children need plenty of iron as they are in a rapid growth stage.
Photograph by Michael Lorenzo, via sxc.hu
