United States: According to a new study put forward this week, scientists discovered evidence that iron deficiency is “a widespread, underrecognized public health problem.”
The results prove that an upsetting number of Americans indeed have an iron problem. New studies that came out this week show that up to 30 percent of individuals have some form of anemia.
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The research was conducted by scientists at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, and the results were published on Tuesday in the JAMA Network Open journal, gizmodo.com reported.
Needed for numerous body activities, especially for blood production, being low in iron, therefore, may not be good for our health. The researchers themselves stated that they wished to gain a more accurate estimate of how many nonselected people may be experiencing absolute iron deficiency or functional iron deficiency (FID), where having adequate stored iron but being unable to use it ‘appropriately’ for some reason.
What more are the experts stating?
The authors looked at more current data from what’s called the National Health and Nutritional Examination Survey, or NHANES, which surveys adult Americans’ eating and activity habits and is conducted periodically by the CDC.
They focused on people who had their iron levels as well as other relevant biomarkers tested in their blood samples.
More specifically, about 14 percent of all adults in the US could be estimated to have absolute iron deficiency, and another 15 percent had FID.
A deficiency in iron is often associated with, and results in, anemia, which is a state in which there are not sufficient healthy red blood cells or hemoglobin, a protein that is responsible for transferring oxygen from red blood cells to the rest of the body (chronic blood loss leads to both iron deficit and anemia).
Despite this, the researcher’s discovery showed that in the participants not identified with anemia or other co-factor diseases, it was still prevalent. In patients without anemia, 11 percent had absolute ID, and 15 percent had functional ID.
What more are the experts stating?
According to the researchers, “This cross-sectional study indicates that both absolute and functional iron deficiency affects a large proportion of adults in the US, especially among those without conditions often screened for iron deficiency,” gizmodo.com reported.
“Absolute and functional iron deficiency may be a widespread, underrecognized public health problem,” they added.
According to experts, Anemia occurs owing to a deficiency of iron, which contributes to a range of health issues, including hair loss, fatigue, and heart problems, especially when left untreated for long periods specifically.
However, researchers point out that iron deficiency can lead to other conditions, even without anemia, such as restless leg syndrome, impaired cognitive function, and potentially a shortened lifespan. The study also revealed that many people with iron deficiency rarely take iron supplements, indicating that a large number may be unaware of their low iron levels.