Anaemia

1. What is anaemia?

Your red blood cells move oxygen around your body using a protein called haemoglobin. Anaemia, a common condition, occurs when you have a deficiency of either haemoglobin or healthy red blood cells.

The body tissues and organs of people with anaemia tend to get short-changed on oxygen, which may reduce energy, alertness and activity levels, and can cause problems for the heart and lungs. It may also result in problems during pregnancy.

2. What causes anaemia?

Anaemia has many types and causes. It can develop if your diet lacks iron, folic acid or vitamin B12, or when your body can’t properly absorb these nutrients from food. (Your bone marrow needs these nutrients to make red blood cells.) Iron-deficiency anaemia is the most common form of anaemia; it affects about one in four people of all ages worldwide.

You can also get anaemia when your body demands more nutrients (like it does during puberty and pregnancy); when you’re losing blood (say, through heavy menstrual periods or from a stomach ulcer); or when you have a medical condition, are suffering from an illness or are taking medicine that affects your red blood cells or haemoglobin levels.

3. How common is anaemia?

Although anaemia can affect us at any stage of life, in Australia, women of child-bearing age (particularly those who are menstruating or pregnant) and children are most at risk. Vegetarians, athletes and people on fad weight-loss diets are also at increased risk.

4. Signs and symptoms of anaemia:

Anaemia generally makes people feel weak, lethargic, easily tired or short of breath. It may cause other symptoms, including headaches, an irregular heartbeat (palpitations), faintness, loss of appetite and ringing in the ears. Some people don’t notice any symptoms at all, or these signs may emerge slowly over months or years, but in some cases, symptoms come on suddenly or severely.

You may also notice other symptoms, depending on the anaemia’s cause. These might include physical or mental changes, such as pale skin; dry, flaking nails; mouth ulcers, a sore or red tongue; unusual food cravings; and irritability or depression.

Diagnosis:

A doctor confirms an anaemia diagnosis with a blood test. This test checks:

• the level of haemoglobin in your blood
• the levels of iron, vitamin B12 and folic acid in your blood
• whether the size, colour and number of your red blood cells is normal

A blood test can also detect early on whether you’re iron-deficient by measuring your level of ferritin, a protein that stores iron in your body.

Establishing the cause of anaemia is essential to rule out serious disease (such as gastric or colon cancer), to ensure you get the right treatment and to correct any nutritional problems.

Complementary medicine and lifestyle approaches:

There are steps you can take to help prevent the types of anaemia resulting from dietary deficiencies.

Eating a healthy, well-balanced diet helps ward off anaemia resulting from iron, vitamin B12 or folic-acid deficiency.

The first step to avoiding iron deficiency is to make sure you eat enough lean red meat, fish, poultry, eggs, dairy products, leafy green vegetables, dried fruit, nuts, legumes, peas, wholegrains and cereals. The amount of iron you need depends on your age and gender; pregnant and premenopausal women need the most.

Eating meat, fish, eggs and dairy products also provides you with vitamin B12. As for folic acid, you can get more in your diet by eating leafy green vegetables; fruits, such as strawberries, oranges and bananas; most types of bread; and some fortified breakfast cereals and juices.

Plant foods contain no vitamin B12, so it can be difficult to meet your requirements through diet alone if you’re a vegetarian or vegan. You can get vitamin B12 from eggs and dairy products; if you don’t eat these foods, some fortified breakfast cereals, soy products, and vegetarian sausages and burgers are additional sources.

Although you might be able to get enough iron from plant foods, the body doesn’t absorb it as well as it does the iron from meat. To help your body absorb iron from plant foods:

• eat them at the same time as you eat foods high in vitamin C and food acids, such as brightly coloured fruits and vegetables (for example, citrus fruits, red capsicum and kiwifruit)
• separate them from foods that can reduce iron absorption, including tea; coffee; cola drinks; and dairy products, such as milkmilk.

Traditional-medicine-based treatment:

If you have anaemia from a deficiency of iron, vitamin B12 or folic acid, increasing these nutrients in your diet isn’t enough; you’ll also need vitamin- or mineral-replacement therapy. This treatment is usually an oral supplement, such as an iron tablet. Some people who have a vitamin B12 deficiency, who have high iron needs or who can’t take iron tablets may need an injection.

You should take a supplement only on the advice of a doctor. Like all medicines, vitamin and mineral supplements can cause side effects and other problems, such as medication interactions.

Iron supplements, in particular, can be toxic if you take more than the recommended amount. Doses differ for adults and children; even small amounts of an iron preparation can cause an overdose in a small child.

It’s also worth noting that though more than 100 oral iron preparations are available over the counter, only a few contain enough iron to treat iron-deficiency anaemia. Sot it’s especially important to get advice from your doctor about the right preparation and dose for you. Your doc can also tell you how long you need to take your supplement. This could take 2 to 4 months to correct the anaemia and another 3 to 6 months to replenish your body’s iron stores.

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