Iron Deficiency Anemia- An invisible crisis you need to know!

It is so surprising and strange that one in every five women in India is prey to this disease or the vascular system. It has become a common notion that if you're a female you are bound to be anemic. Apparently, girls are weaker and their iron levels are always dipping below the normal range. It is indeed disturbing to witness how “normalized” it is for someone to be anemic in today's day and age. 

Whenever one goes for a blood test, we hear comments like “Of course ma'am, the values are always below normal for women, it's normal”. Little do we know about the importance of being anaemic, its dangers, how we can prevent this, ways to naturally maintain a good iron level in our body and much more. 

It's time we as a society make this invisible or normalized disease an actual problem of concern and work towards improving the health of women in India. This World Anemia Day, 2024, let this be our pledge to talk about it, address it, empower women, learn more about it and practice measures to keep this disease away. Every year, the World Anemia Day campaign focuses on a dedicated theme. The theme for World Anemia Awareness Day in 2024 is “The Best Blood is Your Blood”.

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What is Anemia and its leading cause?

Anemia is a disease of the vascular system of our body when our blood does not contain enough red blood cells in it. RBCs are an important component of our peripheral blood smear. It is this tiny vehicle that helps transport oxygen throughout our body. A decrease in the number of active RBCs implies that a person will suffer from weakness and fatigue due to decreased oxygen reaching the tissues.

The causes of Anemia range from conditions that cause increased blood loss like heavy menstruation, pregnancy, genetic factors, peptic ulcer, use of medications causing gastrointestinal bleeding, diseases like Crohn’s that decrease absorption of iron or simply even the lack of balanced diet commonly seen in vegetarians. One of the leading causes of Anemia in India and worldwide is the deficiency of iron levels in our body. Iron helps in the process of formation of RBCs hence its deficiency causes anemia. 

What are the signs and symptoms of Iron Deficiency Anemia?

Initially when anemia manifests the symptoms are usually less severe and not so significant. One might assume it is to be a normal process of growth and development. It is one of the most ignored diseases that just lands you in the hospital one fine day. 

The symptoms of the initial disease include weakness, fatigue, feeling excessively tired, palpitations, frequent headaches and the feeling of dizziness on little exertion. As and when the disease progresses one can find certain characteristic features like koilonychia (your nail develops depression and assumes a spoon shape), your nails are susceptible to breakage, paleness of your skin, urges to eat sand and ice (called Pica), shortness of breath, feeling lightheaded all the time, increased hair loss, ulcers and inflammation of the mouth and tongue.

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The finding that compels you to visit the doctor is when you complain of excruciating abdominal pain and notice dark, tar-coloured urine stools due to the presence of blood in them. Consult our Gytree Experts if you seem to be experiencing similar complaints. 

What are the Preventive Measures one can take?

Our Government has made efforts to tackle this disease by launching the Anemia Mukt Bharat in 2018. The Key element of their programme included supplementation of Iron and Folic acid tablets for all the groups of women susceptible to anemia like children, adolescent girls, women of reproductive age and pregnant mothers. 

We can prevent anemia by focusing on the problems causing it in a particular individual like increasing the levels of iron by proper diet and nutrition and decreasing its losses by treating various gastric conditions. Click here to read about the recommended dietary iron intake in different age groups according to the standard guidelines. 

1. Change of dietary habits by including increased consumption of iron-rich food like green leafy vegetables, tofu, beans, eggs, fruits, peas, lean red meat and cereals. 

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2. Including Vitamin C-rich foods in your diet like oranges, citrus fruits, tomatoes and strawberries as vitamin C helps in the effective absorption of iron in the body. 

3. Ensure that right from childhood, eating iron-rich foods have become an integral part of one's diet. 

4. Encourage breastfeeding of infants at least for a minimum of 6 months after delivery. 

5. Information and awareness about iron and folic acid supplementation to all pregnant mothers during pregnancy. 

Gytree’s novel supplement that increases one's iron and energy levels and is easy on the gut is now available. These two iron gummies for women can replenish 75% of your iron levels. It contains an active ingredient called Sunactive Fe that is clinically tested and approved by WHO. Visit the Gytree Shop to purchase your Iron Gummies NOW! Together with the right information and targeting the affected population we can help spread the word about iron deficiency anemia and help reduce its prevalence in the future.