Iron Deficiency Signs Your Skin, Hair & Nails Are Trying To Warn You About

Dr. Andrea Suarez shows us what to watch out for:

When you need to be a little more ironic

Iron’s pretty important; it’s critical for oxygen delivery, energy production, and brain function, and low iron can cause fatigue, brain fog, poor concentration, exercise intolerance, and symptoms long before anemia appears.

What to watch out for: as well as the aforementioned symptoms (fatigue etc, which let’s face it, could be many things), tell-tale signs include diffuse hair shedding (telogen effluvium), pale or dull skin, dryness, itch without a rash, spoon-shaped or brittle nails, a smooth pale tongue, cracks at the corners of your mouth, ice cravings (pagophagia), and restless legs.

There are ways of testing to be sure. While ferritin is the key blood test for iron stores, with ferritin below 30ng/mL often suggesting deficiency, there are other tests too, for example transferrin saturation helps assess available iron, and/but normal hemoglobin doesn’t rule out iron deficiency before anemia itself develops.

The risk is increased for: anyone who’s menstruating or pregnant, people with heavy blood loss, athletes, those with gastrointestinal disorders or poor absorption, chronic proton pump inhibitor users, and GLP-1 users, as well as anyone with chronic illness(es), especially in the case of inflammatory illness(es).

For more on all of this, enjoy:

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Take care!