Types of Anemia
You probably know iron as a metal used in everyday products, such as wrought-iron fences and furniture. In prehistoric times, humans used iron to make tools. Today, you might use cast-iron cooking pots and pans. Iron also is part of your body chemistry, and it plays an essential role in keeping you healthy. Your body needs iron to make hemoglobin, the protein in red blood cells (RBCs) that carries oxygen. Your body has a tightly controlled system for absorbing, using, and recycling iron. In this system, iron first goes to the bone marrow, where it combines with hemoglobin and is used to make RBCs. Any extra iron that isn’t immediately needed for RBCs is stored in body tissues. At the end of their lifespans, RBCs are destroyed and the hemoglobin is broken down. The iron is returned to the bone marrow, where it’s used to make new RBCs. Most of the iron in your body is constantly recycled and reused in this way. However, you lose a little iron every day through normal body processes. You need a regular source of iron to ensure that your body has enough to make the RBCs it needs. The main way you get iron is from food, though only a relatively small amount of the iron in food is actually absorbed by your body.
Causes of Iron-Deficiency Anemia
Iron-deficiency anemia may develop because the body’s demand for iron is greater than its supply, because of low iron intake or poor iron absorption, or as a result of blood loss. The body’s demand for iron may go beyond its supply as a result of:
- Rapid growth in infancy, childhood, or adolescence
- The body trying to replace blood that is lost
- Erythropoietin therapy for kidney disease
Low iron intake or poor absorption of iron may occur as a result of:
- An inability to absorb iron from your diet
- Acute or chronic inflammation (such as inflammatory bowel disease)
Blood loss that can lead to irondeficiency anemia may occur as a result of:
- Chronic bleeding (for example, from a bleeding ulcer or other internal bleeding)
- Heavy blood loss from injury or surgery
- Heavy menstrual periods Frequent blood donation or phlebotomy (a medical procedure similar to blood donation) over a short time.
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