If you’ve ever sat in a chair and constantly felt the need to move your legs, you have an idea of what it’s like to have restless leg syndrome (RLS)-except people who have RLS feel this way all the time. You need to treat the underlying iron deficiency to keep the cracking from coming back again and again. In those cases, treating angular cheilitis on its own-say, with cream or ointment-wouldn’t help. In a study of 82 people with angular cheilitis, researchers found that 35 percent of them had iron deficiency. Those cracked corners can make it difficult to eat, smile, or even shout. But people with iron deficiency may be privy to a specific type of cracking called angular cheilitis, which affects the corners of your mouth. Thanks to harsh winters, a dry room, or a habit of licking your lips, just about everyone knows the pain of chapped lips. Since spoon nails can also be caused by trauma (like a jammed finger), exposure to petroleum-based solvents, and other issues, the American Academy of Family Physicians recommends doctors do a blood test for iron deficiency anemia when other causes of spoon nails aren’t obvious. They look just how they sound-the inside of your nail sinks in, leaving you with a fingernail shaped like a spoon. Along with weak and brittle nails, spoon nails, also called koilonychia, can be indicative of an underlying iron problem. Your nails are brittle or spoon-shapedĪlthough they may seem unrelated to the rest of your body, your nails can actually say a lot about your health. If you do suffer from these non-food cravings, boosting your iron intake can help if a deficiency is present. It typically occurs in young children or pregnant women, but case studies show that older adults can experience pica, too. The condition is called pica and can be difficult to catch, mainly because people are ashamed to admit they have these strange addictions. While researchers are still trying to figure out why, people with severe iron deficiencies often crave non-food items like dirt, clay, cornstarch, paint chips, cardboard, and cleaning supplies, according to the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute. If you ate dirt as a kid, you might have been deficient in iron. You have odd cravings for things that aren’t food Beyond the common symptoms, here are six unusual signs of iron deficiency to watch out for-and exactly how to make sure you’re getting enough of it. Your body can do some pretty weird things when you’re severely low in iron. This causes your red blood cell count to drop, commonly leading to fatigue, dizziness, pale skin, or shortness of breath. True iron deficiency occurs in three stages, with the most severe being iron deficiency anemia, a condition in which there isn’t enough iron in your body to create hemoglobin, a protein responsible for delivering oxygen to your tissues, says Pritchett. Still, roughly 10 million people in the United States are iron deficient, according to 2013 review of research, and it’s much more common in women than men. Iron inadequacy is a big concern, however, and mainly occurs in pregnant women, young children, women with heavy periods, people who donate blood often, and vegetarians or vegans. That said, most Americans shouldn’t have too much trouble getting enough iron through a diet that includes animal products like red meat, fish, poultry, according to the National Institutes of Health (NIH). In fact, the World Health Organization estimates that nearly half of the world’s 1.62 billion cases of anemia-a condition characterized by a lack of healthy red blood cells-circle back to iron deficiency. “Iron deficiency is the most common micronutrient deficiency worldwide,” explains Kelly Pritchett, PhD, RDN, CSSD, assistant professor of sports nutrition at Central Washington University. Iron is one of the most important nutrients in your diet, since it helps different proteins deliver oxygen to your body-but the truth is, much of the world doesn’t get enough of this essential mineral.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |