What is Iron Deficiency?
If you feel like your energy levels are low, you’re lacking motivation and you could fall asleep at your desk everyday, don’t blame your job right away. Instead, take a close look at the signs and symptoms of iron deficiency.
Iron deficiency is the most prevalent nutrition deficiency in the world. It occurs when the body’s stores of iron are low (the stage prior to anemia), and, it may or may not cause any symptoms.
Iron deficiency disproportionately affects those in developing countries but it is also prevalent in industrialized countries. Iron deficiency anemia develops when low iron stores persist for a period of time and the body cannot make enough healthy red blood cells to deliver oxygen throughout the body.
In the United States, the largest nationwide survey, the National Nutrition and Health Examination Surveys (NHANES) found that approximately 16% of teenage girls aged 16-19 and 12% of women aged 20-49 are deficient in iron. These numbers are staggering in a country with an abundant food supply and an array of multivitamin and iron supplements.
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