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I've encountered countless women struggling with iron deficiency and depletion. 

They’re tired all the time, breathless when they shouldn’t be, unable to focus and have nagging headaches that hang around for days. Being in a general state of fatigue all the time leaves them feeling unable to function properly.

It can be really debilitating.

So they head to their doctor, get the relevant blood tests and are prescribed iron supplements or if the levels are really low, an iron infusion could be recommended.

They start taking their supplements and wait for their levels to increase. 

But despite being diligent with their iron supplements, they continue to face low iron levels and their energy levels aren’t improving. 

This cycle can be incredibly frustrating, mainly because iron is such an essential nutrient for our bodies. It carries oxygen around our body, and without enough of it, we're left feeling tired, unfocused, and weak. 

So, why is this happening, and what can we do about it?

Common Symptoms of Iron Deficiency

Firstly, let's look at the symptoms. If you're experiencing fatigue, headaches, breathlessness after minor exertion, brain fog, poor focus, and even cravings for sugar, you might be dealing with iron deficiency. Pale skin, pale conjunctiva (the inner rim of the eye), and brittle nails are also common warning signs. 

It's crucial to recognise these symptoms and take action, as persistent low iron levels can severely impact your quality of life and overall health.

 

The Different Stages of Iron Depletion

Iron depletion isn't a one-size-fits-all issue; it comes in stages. 

Stage One: Low ferritin levels (a blood protein that stores iron).

Stage Two: Low ferritin and low iron, along with low transferrin saturation.

Stage Three: Everything mentioned above and more 

 

Knowing which stage you're at can help tailor your approach to managing your iron levels effectively.

 

Why Your Iron Supplementation May Not Be Working

1. Dosage Matters: Taking high doses of iron daily isn't always the solution. Our bodies produce a hormone called hepcidin, which helps regulate iron levels. High doses of iron elevate hepcidin, which then blocks iron absorption. Studies have found that anything over 40 milligrams a day can trigger this reaction. Therefore, a dose of 40 milligrams once a day or even every second day is more effective.
2. Cofactors Are Key: Iron doesn't work alone. It needs cofactors like B vitamins (B12, B9, B6, B2) and copper to absorb and function properly. If these nutrients are lacking, even the best iron supplement won't do its job.
3. Underlying Causes: Sometimes, low iron levels are a symptom of another issue. Heavy periods, gut disorders like celiac or Crohn's disease, and chronic inflammation or infection can all contribute. It's essential to identify and treat these underlying causes to see any real improvement.

 

What You Can Do

Knowing these barriers is the first step. Here's what you can do to improve your iron levels:

1. Stick to Effective Dosages: Keep your iron intake to around 40 milligrams per day or every other day. This dosage has been shown to keep hepcidin low and improve absorption.
2. Combine with Cofactors: Make sure your diet or supplementation includes the necessary cofactors—folate, B12, B6, B2, and copper.
3. Timing is Everything: The best time to take your iron supplement is either in the morning or with your evening meal if it includes animal protein. Hepcidin levels are at their lowest during these times, which aids absorption.
4. Dietary Sources Matter: Aim to get iron from your food whenever possible. Animal products like meat, poultry, and seafood are excellent sources. If you're vegan or vegetarian, focus on iron-rich plant foods and consider B12 supplementation.
5. Address Gut Health: A healthy gut is crucial for nutrient absorption. Poor gut health can hinder iron absorption even if your diet and supplements are spot on. Look for symptoms like bloating, indigestion, or irregular bowels, and seek ways to improve your gut health.
6. Correct Underlying Issues: Identify and address any inflammation or infections that might be causing chronic low iron. Tests like CRP can check for inflammation, and looking at immune cells can detect infections or parasitic infections.

 

Iron deficiency can wreak havoc on your energy, mood, and overall health. By understanding the intricacies of iron absorption and the factors that affect it, you can take more effective steps toward boosting your iron levels.

I hope these insights help you as much as they've helped me and my clients. If you have any questions or personal experiences with low iron or anemia, please leave a comment below. I'd love to hear your stories and help where I can!

 

LINKS:

Website: vesnahrsto.com

REPLAY; 3-Step Hormone Reset: How To Lose weight, Build Muscle & Increase Energy: https://vesnahrsto.com/join-evolution-webinar[/vc_column_text][vc_tta_accordion style=”flat” shape=”square” color=”white” active_section=”3″ no_fill=”true” collapsible_all=”true”][vc_tta_section title=”Transcript” tab_id=”1716528090603-cfde93dc-583317165356843821716536535162″][vc_column_text][00:00:00] Vesna: Welcome to the Peak Revival podcast. My name is Vesna and today I'm going to talk about the iron trap why iron supplementation is not working for women. Now, iron deficiency or iron depletion is one of the most common deficiencies I see for women and women I find are struggling or suffering with this issue.

[00:00:19] for a long time. So they're on the supplements. They've been doing it for a long time. They get the blood test done again, and they're still low in iron. And then their doctor recommends an infusion. They have an iron infusion and they feel great after that for a very short period of time. And then their iron levels drop down again.

[00:00:37] It is a problem. It is a big problem. And for a lot of women, they are so accustomed to low iron levels and being unable to elevate them that they just, you know, move on with it. Right. But it's really detrimental to our health because iron is such an important nutrient because this carries oxygen around our body.

[00:00:57] So if we don't have enough oxygen around our body. We're going to feel tired. We're not going to have the brain power. We're not going to focus. It gives us energy. It helps us with our immune system and so much more. So the common symptoms of anemia or iron depletion are pale skin even pale conjunctiva, which is just, you know, the, the part of the eye there, uh, which goes pale.

[00:01:19] And even the nail beds go pale fatigue headaches kind of these dull ache that doesn't go away. breathlessness almost on, you know, walking up a couple of stairs, so a very strange kind of breathlessness.

[00:01:30] Brain fog poor focus poor work productivity we can get weakness in our body we can get brittle nails and we can get cravings. Cravings for sugar is really common or just any kind of weird cravings and restless leg syndrome. There are many more symptoms that can come under the low iron or anemia banner, but they are the main ones.

[00:01:49] Okay. Now there are different stages of iron depletion. So stage one is that when you have a blood test, it'll come back and your ferritin levels will be [00:02:00] low. This is a blood protein that stores iron Stage two is when you have low ferritin and low iron and transfer and saturation, which is another marker that will also be low.

[00:02:11] And then stage three, you have all of the above. And so So there are different varying degrees of iron depletion and it's always good to identify where you're at and make sure that this is something that you're checking regularly.

[00:02:22] So like I said, we don't want to go too long. And just kind of live with anemia or low iron because you know, the world's not getting the best of you. Your family's not getting the best of you. Your work's not getting the best of you. And it's, it's really hard to enjoy your life when you're feeling constantly tired, this kind of muscular fatigue and these headaches, and you're just not feeling yourself.

[00:02:42] And there is a lot that you can do. And I really want to explain how the things that you may be doing right now, okay. What could be the number one barrier to you having better iron levels?

[00:02:52] so why your iron supplementation is not working. Number one, the dosage. So quite often if you've got low iron, you might be taking. High doses of iron every day, maybe twice a day, and you've been doing that for a long time. And there is a problem with that. Okay, so our body releases a hormone called hepcidin.

[00:03:09] Hepcidin protects our body from our iron levels going too high. When iron becomes too high, it's toxic for us. So our body is really intelligent and tries to balance out and prevent this toxicity. So it releases a hormone called hepcidin. Now, when we try to elevate our iron levels by really going high, going in with high doses, even infusions, right?

[00:03:29] But high doses of, iron supplementation, we're going to elevate this hormone, hepcidin. So the higher we go in supplements, the higher hepcidin goes. And so the less we absorb, right? So higher doses are a problem. And what they found is anything over 40 milligrams a day is going to elevate hepcidin and block iron absorption.

[00:03:48] So 40 milligrams once a day or even every second day, which sounds pretty crazy if you've got low, you're in anemia, right? It sounds pretty crazy, but that's actually what the studies have found is a, is a really [00:04:00] efficient dose to elevate iron levels and keep hepcidin low. So hepcidin after one dose of 40 milligrams, it will stay elevated for 24 to 48 hours.

[00:04:10] You can see that even if we're having it every day, it is going to cause this, you know, barrier for us from absorbing iron. So that is the number one block that I see. So too high in dosage of iron and then not looking at the nutrient deficiencies, right? That's another barrier. So when we're looking at B vitamins, B12, B9, B6, even B2 and copper, all of these nutrients are important cofactors for iron absorption and utilization.

[00:04:36] So it's not just a case of B12. Just taking an iron supplement, we need the co factors that go with it.

[00:04:42] And the other reason why your supplementation is not working is that you haven't addressed the underlining cause of low iron. So yes, it can be dietary if you're not getting enough of the dietary sources of iron and the B vitamin sources, but it can be other reasons. It could be if you've got fibroids and you have a heavy period, it can be from gut disorders like celiacs or Crohn inflammation in the system, right?

[00:05:06] or an infection. Okay. So when our body has an infection or inflammation, it kind of hides the, the iron because iron will accelerate or create more inflammation with that infection. And so therefore temporarily, when we have an infection and we're sick, our iron levels can come back as low. And this is very normal.

[00:05:23] And then you want to retest again after a couple of months, after the infection has passed. And to see that they have restored. But it's very, very common that there can be a low grade infection that is causing iron levels to stay low regardless of your diet and regardless of supplementation. So what you want to do is have your blood test done and have a look at the immune markers to make sure there's nothing hanging around that is causing this.

[00:05:47] The other factor that impacts iron absorption is gut health, right? And I see this a lot with my clients. So there's poor gut health. Again, you may not have symptoms of poor gut health, but commonly it's bloating, it's indigestion, [00:06:00] it's irregular bowels. It's a number of symptoms or it could be nothing, right?

[00:06:04] And so if we don't have proper gut health, such as The pH in our gut, the microbiome, it will how our body can absorb iron and the B vitamins that are the cofactors that go with the iron.

[00:06:16] Okay, so what can you do knowing that too high of doses is going to make things worse, that we need some cofactors with it and there's other things going on. So, number one, the elemental iron dose that you want to stick to is 40 milligrams a day. Do not go over it. You could even do every second day.

[00:06:34] So studies have shown that that is effective as well. You want to combine the iron with its cofactors, the folate, the B12, the B6, the B2, and even copper.

[00:06:46] Now the timing of your iron supplementation is also important. So actually, hepcidin, so remember that hormone that I said. You know, if we have too much iron, it'll block iron absorption. So, hepcidin's at its lowest in the morning, and it will also be lower, so say with our evening meal, if you're having some animal protein, that is the best time to have your iron supplement.

[00:07:06] So, either in the morning, or in the evening with your meal.

[00:07:08] Second part is we're going to look at making sure that you get dietary sources of iron, okay? So if you are vegan or vegetarian, then you really will have to look at obviously iron supplementation, but definitely B12 as well. But you also, if you're not vegan or vegetarian, you want to make sure that you're getting that from your food.

[00:07:25] So your animal products are your best source of iron and your B12 and your seafood and your poultry and you want to avoid foods with phytates, especially when you're taking your iron supplementation. So your nuts, your seeds, and your pulses will, produce, phytates, which actually block iron absorption.

[00:07:43] And lastly, It's all good to take the supplementation, but you have to correct the underlining causes. So like I said, it can be inflammation in the system. You can do testing to check that like a CRP is a test which helps to check inflammation in the system. You want to look at your immune [00:08:00] cells. Is your body fighting off any infection or any parasitic infection?

[00:08:04] You want to, Treat any underlying gut disorders and it could be that you just your gut health is not optimized So you're not digesting your food There's probably disrupt in your pH in your microbiome and all of that needs to be addressed in order for you to have proper iron Absorption now I did a podcast on that on gut health so you can go and listen to that one and I'll cover that in More detail.

[00:08:26] Okay, so they are my tips and treatment to increase your iron levels So make sure That you follow these steps because like I said, iron deficiency is really going to wreak havoc on the way that you feel and show up every day. So what I would love for you to do now is leave me a comment below and let me know, are you struggling with anemia?

[00:08:46] Have you tried all the supplementations and what have you tried already and it really hasn't brought the results that you were hoping? Let me know in the comments below. [/vc_column_text][/vc_tta_section][vc_tta_section title=”Links” tab_id=”1716535392600-7bbf13d5-b61c17165356843821716536535162″][vc_column_text]Website: vesnahrsto.com

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