There are several reasons for anemia such as: Iron deficiency, B12 deficiency, sickle cell or thalassemia. The focus here will be on iron and B12 deficiency.
Iron is the mineral in hemoglobin that allows for oxygen to be transferred from the lungs to the tissues and Carbon dioxide back from the tissue to the lungs. With a lack of iron, there is a decrease in hemoglobin size and colour of the red blood cell changes.
Some examples of iron rich foods include:
- Red meat (organ and livers especially)
- Chickpeas, lentils, legumes
- Raisin, prunes, plums
- Dates, molasses
- Beets
- Eggs
- etc
You can get more iron in the diet by cooking with cast iron pan or using a iron fish.
Some factors that could affect the absorption of iron include
- low stomach acid
- Not enough vitamin C to aid the absorption of iron
- Too much calcium or caffeine during iron intake
- leaky gut
- hormone imbalance (heavy periods)
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