What causes anemia?
What is anemia?
What causes anemia?
The most common cause of anemia is not having enough iron. Your body needs iron to make
hemoglobin. Anemia also occurs when your body doesn't have enough folic acid or vitamin B12
to make red blood cells. If you have an injury or surgery, you may lose enough blood to cause
anemia. Some long-term diseases like cancer, rheumatoid arthritis, and Crohn’s disease, or
certain medications can affect your body’s ability to make red blood cells.
Kidney disease can also cause anemia. Healthy kidneys make erythropoietin. Erythropoietin is a
hormone that tells the bone marrow to make red blood cells.
If you have kidney disease, you do not make enough of this hormone to make red blood cells Certain types of cancer cause anemia by slowing down your body’s production of erythropoietin.
Sometimes the cancer won’t let your body use its own iron to make hemoglobin. Cancer
treatments, such as chemotherapy and radiation, can also cause anemia by damaging the bone
marrow. This damage may prevent your body from making red blood cells.
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