Iron

♪ [music playing-- no dialogue] ♪♪. Hi, my name is Laura Bodine, and I'm a graduate student at Eastern Illinois University, and today I'm going to talk to you about iron through the life cycle. Now Iron is an essential mineral that the body uses for oxygen transport, for regular cell growth, to aid an immune function, and also for other important enzyme reactions in the body. Unfortunately, iron is the number one nutrient deficiency in the entire world with roughly 80% of the world population having iron deficiency. So some common symptoms of iron deficiency include fatigue and weakness, also decline in cognitive and physical performances, decline in immune function, and also anemia can result from long-term iron deficiency. So in order to prevent iron deficiency we need to know how much iron is needed everyday. In this table I have shown the RDA of iron for every stage during the life cycle. As you will see, during infancy and early childhood needs are increased between 10 and 11 milligrams per day, and this is because of the low iron stores that infants have as well as the rapid growth that occurs during early childhood. With low iron intake at this stage, long-term delays in cognitive development as well as behavioral disturbances can occur. Needs drop down during childhood years but then as we enter adolescence, needs increase once again. For males, 11 milligrams are needed every day and females need 15 milligrams every day. And this is because of, again, the rapid growth spurt that occurs in adolescence. There's also an increase in blood volume because of the onset of menarche for females. Unfortunately, 30% of males and 80% of females do not get the recommended intake of iron everyday. And so this puts them at an increased risk for deficiency as well as impaired growth and development for the rest of their lives. We then move into adulthood where male needs drop down to 8 milligrams per day, but female needs increase slightly to 18 milligrams, and this is to replace the blood loss seen during the menstrual cycle. But after menopause, needs drop back down to 8 milligrams per day for the rest of the life cycle. But as we move into pregnancy, we see that there is a huge increase in the amount of iron needed a day to 27 milligrams. This is needed in order to support fetal growth as well as for maternal health as well. The CDC estimates that 12% of women go into pregnancy with iron deficiency. So iron is the only supplement recommended for all pregnant women to take. And studies have shown that low intake of iron during pregnancy can also increase the risk of pre-term birth as well as low birth weight infants. So as we can see, iron is essential for every stage during the life cycle. But now we need to know where we can find iron in the diet. As you can see there are actually two different types of iron in the diet. The first is called heme iron, and heme iron is found only in animal products and is easily absorbed by the body. Some excellent sources of heme iron include chicken liver, oysters are a great source, as well as beef and other red meats. The other source of iron in the diet is called non-heme iron, and this is actually the most abundant form in the food supply and accounts for most of the iron found in plant products. Non-heme iron, however, is not as easily absorbed by the body. Some excellent sources include iron-fortified cereals like Total, and lentils as well as spinach are all excellent sources of iron in the diet. Now only 10% to 20% of the iron we eat is actually absorbed, so here are three easy ways to increase iron absorption. The first is to combine heme and non-heme iron in the same meal, so having a lentil beef stew would be a great example of this. The second way is to combine vitamin C with non-heme iron sources. For example, a strawberry-spinach salad would increase the amount of iron you are going to absorb from the spinach. And lastly, avoid taking any calcium supplements or drinking coffee and tea with meals because this can decrease the amount of iron absorbed. Overall, having a well-balanced diet is the best way to insure that you are going to get enough iron by getting a variety of foods from all the different food groups. For more information you can go to the dietary guidelines for Americans website at www.health.gov/dietaryguidelines Thank you. ♪ [music playing--no dialogue] ♪♪.