Within a year of initiation, a multidisciplinary project to improve screening and treatment for iron deficiency in pregnancy resulted in a six-fold rise in screening rates for iron deficiency in pregnant patients, a 20-fold ...
Dec 8, 2025
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New research published in The Journal of Immunology suggests that a lack of dietary iron can negatively affect the ability of immune cells to respond to viral infection in the lungs. In mice with dietary iron deficiency and ...
Dec 1, 2025
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Researchers from the German Cancer Research Center and the University of Freiburg show how certain painkillers influence the iron metabolism of liver cancer cells and can thus contribute to iron deficiency and anemia in cancer ...
Nov 17, 2025
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Every minute, a woman in the U.S. requires a blood transfusion due to heavy menstrual bleeding, or HMB. One in three women reports having the condition—which can lead to iron deficiency and anemia—and missing an average ...
Oct 8, 2025
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Chewing on ice may seem harmless, perhaps even refreshing, but dental experts warn it can actually wreak havoc on your teeth.
Oct 6, 2025
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The popularity of matcha continues to boom. But recent videos on social media have suggested it could be bad for you if you have low iron.
Sep 24, 2025
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Duke-NUS Medical School, working with an international team of experts, has contributed to a new evidence-based plan to tackle anemia—a condition affecting nearly two billion people worldwide and a persistent obstacle to ...
Sep 11, 2025
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Why do health stories about food and cancer grab so much attention? Because they offer an enticing promise: that a single item on your plate, or even a sudden change in what you crave, might hold the key to spotting disease ...
Sep 8, 2025
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In my youth, I spent an unreasonable amount of time questioning why A-level chemistry was a prerequisite for medical school. Why was it as essential as biology? Why did I need to learn about electrons and entropy? The penny ...
Aug 27, 2025
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If you spend any time in the wellness corners of TikTok or Instagram, you'll see claims women need one to two hours more sleep than men.
Jul 17, 2025
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Iron deficiency (sideropenia or hypoferremia) is one of the most common of the nutritional deficiencies. Iron is present in all cells in the human body, and has several vital functions. Examples include as a carrier of oxygen to the tissues from the lungs in the form of hemoglobin, as a transport medium for electrons within the cells in the form of cytochromes, and as an integral part of enzyme reactions in various tissues. Too little iron can interfere with these vital functions and lead to morbidity and death.
The direct consequence of iron deficiency is iron deficiency anemia. Children and pre-menopausal women are the groups most prone to the disease.
Total body iron averages approximately 3.8 g in men and 2.3 g in women. In blood plasma, iron is carried tightly bound to the protein transferrin. There are several mechanisms that control human iron metabolism and safeguard against iron deficiency. The main regulatory mechanism is situated in the gastrointestinal tract. When loss of iron is not sufficiently compensated by adequate intake of iron from the diet, a state of iron deficiency develops over time. When this state is uncorrected, it leads to iron deficiency anemia.
This text uses material from Wikipedia licensed under CC BY-SA
