Why Some People in the UK Are at Risk of Iron Deficiency - Essay Example

Why some people in the UK are at risk of iron deficiency Introduction Iron is a crucial nutrient in human health. Without iron, no living cell can use oxygen. It is essential for the protein called haemoglobin to transport oxygen to all parts of the cells of the body. It can only achieve this through iron that binds to the oxygen molecules and moved to cells in the process of oxidation of sugar molecules. This is an essential process in the production of energy for all living cells. Apart from this crucial role, iron also aids in the functioning of the immune system and neurological development of fetuses. Iron deficiency in the body leads to a number of health problems, the commonest being anaemia. There are many forms of anaemia but the one associated with iron deficiency is called Iron Deficiency Anaemia or IDA in short. When one’s body is iron deficient, the manifestation that you are suffering from anaemia may include shortness of breath, tiredness, chest pains due to agina (define agina), behavioural and developmental problems in children and sometimes fainting. It is absorbed via the small intestines as nutrients in the foods we take. Iron deficiency leading to IDA today is an emerging health concern because of changes in lifestyles of people, especially and surprising in developed countries of the west and North America. The British Nutrition Foundation says that “The World Health Organisation classifies iron deficiency anaemia as a haemoglobin concentration of 13.0g/dL or less in men and 12.0g/dL or less in women” http://www.nutrition.org.uk/home.asp?siteId=43§ionId=650&parentSection=321&which=1. In this essay, I am going to focus my discussion on iron deficiency and it’s attendant risks in society specifically on UK populations. Certain groups of people are at risk in the UK Why is a society well developed such as the UK suffer problems related to nutrition that are more associated with populations that are more at risk, who live in less endowed circumstances in the developing world and constantly find themselves in conflict stricken situations? In an article appearing in Second Opinions, “There are many conditions in western industrialised societies today that were unheard of, or at least very rare, just a century ago. The same conditions are still unheard of in primitive peoples who do not have the ‘benefits’ of our knowledge. There is a very god reason for this: they eat what nature intended; we don’t” http://www.second-opinions.co.uk/anaemia.html. These societies have a definition of sophistication which ultimately works against the course of nature that has not been envisaged by man. For example, more and more people are becoming vegetarians because they think that animal food materials are contaminated. For instance, In Vegetarian Society information fact sheet on iron published in 2000, “Iron deficiency is the most prevalent nutritional problem both in Britain and worldwide. It has been stated that 2/3 of children and women of child-bearing age in developing countries suffer from iron deficiency, 1/3 suffering from severe deficiency and anaemia. In developed countries, between 10-20% of child-bearing age women are said to be anaemic. Iron is the least plentiful nutrient in the typical British diet and anaemia is fairly common in the UK.” http://www.vegsoc.org/info/iron.html. Iron deficiency has acquired such an importance since the last 20 years because people have adapted their dietary needs to suit the changing lifestyles of the time. Unfortunately many people are unaware of the risks associated with eating foods that are poor in iron. Infants below the age of six months are the ones most at risk because working mothers prefer to wean early and or feed their children with cow milk, which research has shown that it has poor content of iron. Researches such as one done by the Royal Society of Medicine and presented at a conference in 2002 at Cow and Gate showed that majority of UK parents did not know that cow milk was poor in iron availability and yet this was the main source of milk for infants below the age of one year, http://www.dairyreporter.com/news/ng.asp?id=12474-milk-blamed-for. This same problem is also prevalent in less endowed societies such as communities of migrants from Africa and Asia. Elsewhere around the world, this problem is common in refugee camps and over populated regions in Asia and slum shanties in Africa. In older members of society iron requirements generally change for girls and boys, men and women and post menopause women. Ruston D. et al 2004, being quoted by the British Medical Journal has showed that about 3% of men and 8% of women have haemoglobin indicative that they are iron deficient. For teenagers, 1% of boys and 9% of girls show the deficiency. The greater threshold for women in iron deficiency is to cover for blood lost through menstruation. Additionally, he points out that 11% of men and 9% of women aged 65 years and over show iron deficiency that is likely to cause anaemia. Men over 50 years of age and post menstrual women sometimes suffer what is called gastrointestinal (GI) bleeding or bleeding into the gut. Impact of iron on health In the United Kingdom, young children, especially from socially deprived groups of people are the most vulnerable to anaemia induced by the lack of enough iron in the diet. The UK government has developed policies to provide iron-fortified milk and cereals to low income families to supplement their weaning of children under the age of two years. The most absorbable form of iron in the diet is the haem iron, found in animal products such as meat. The less important form is the non-haem iron that is most found in cereals that are fortified but the problem is that their absorption can be affected by other dietary factors such as the intake of teas. The question is; why is iron important to health? The reason why we need iron in sufficient amounts in our health is that iron is an important component of haemoglobin, the oxygen carrying protein in the body. It is for this purpose that young children require enough iron to enable more red blood cells to be manufactured and hence carry more oxygen to the body for developmental reasons. If you have less red blood cells(anaemic condition), it is more likely you will be tired and fatigued all the time, you suffer shortness of breathe as the little red blood cell are overworked by the faster pumping of the hearth to meet the higher demand. Iron is also important in energy releasing processes due to the ability to activate catalyse enzymes in the muscle. This is why athletes and performance enduring persons require diets well endowed in iron. Iron need increase during adolescence because of varied reasons. For instance, iron is important for the development for the overall body biomass. Girls additionally need more iron because of the physiological function of menstruation. In instances where there is not enough iron for these groups of people, then mineral supplements should be provided in the diet. Henderson, 2003, also appearing in the British Medical Journal 2004 notes that in Britain men consume 13.2 mg of iron a day whilst women consume 10.0 mg a day. But he says that on average 25% of British women have low intake of iron, below 8.0 mg a day, yet the Reference Nutrient Intake (NRI) is 8.7 mg a day for women. Part of the reason advance is eating less food and lower consumption of red meat. So women who have requirements of iron greater than these RNI values need to watch their diets carefully and if need be, should be advised to take mineral supplements whenever possible. During pregnancy, iron intake should not be a big concern since lose of blood through menses does not occur any at all. Sources of Iron The main souse of iron is meat. This immediately imposes a red flag on a vegetarian since foods derived from plants are poor in iron. As I mentioned earlier, iron in plant foods is called non-haem. Phytates found in cereals and pulses together with tannins in teas and coffees bind this form of iron and hence end reducing absorption into the body. The immediate remedy to this problem is to consume foods rich in vitamin C. having a glass of juice for instance in your table goes along way to helping in the absorption of non haem iron. You can also lace plant derived foods with soup from animal products to enhance absorption. In the UK and Britain in particular, meat constitutes about 17% of iron intake and cereals 44%. Over 90% is in the form of non-haem iron says the British Nutrition Foundation 2004, http://www.nutrition.org.uk/home.asp?siteId=43§ionId=650&parentSection=321&which=1. Conclusion The risk of iron deficiency is a worrying concern for health authorities is Britain after the revelation some of which I have mentioned above came to the fore a few years ago. That thousands of toddlers in Britain could be at risk was highlighted by a study commissioned by the governments Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition in 2002. The findings were discussed in a conference organized by Cow and Gate in 2002. This problem is likely to have a negative impact in school going children as it will impact on their developmental growth. Partly, cow milk was identified as the major culprit and poor dietary practices by UK parents. It has also been found in other researches that iron is important ant in the cognitive development of children. It results in decrease iron body stores in the central nervous systems of infants leading to behavioural abnormalities. Children with iron deficiency anaemia tend to have poorer scores on the Bayley Scale of Mental Development compared with children having normal amounts of iron (Jill Halterman et al 2001). It appears that more UK parents need education and sensitisation on the dangers taking meals poor in availability of iron. The government should formulate policies to requiring that fortified foods are made available to low income groups whom are most in danger. It is usually important for people to learn the cause of their iron deficiency. For some groups of people, the cause could be pretty obvious. Like teenage girls may surfer it because of menses. But other groups of people should seek medical examinations if the symptoms of iron deficiency are manifested by anaemia. It could be an internal bleeding in the gut commonly called Gastrointestinal bleeding (GI), especially older men above 50 years and post menopausal women. It is also important to note that even groups of people living in crowded conditions may surfer Iron Deficiency Anaemia (IDA) because the food they get may be a ration from the prevailing authority such as in a refugee camp. This is where legislative functions of these authorities should incorporate the need to have a balanced diet to these groups of people. In Britain, such groups of people are more often than not people from the minority groups from Asia and Africa. This problem has to be legislatively addressed. Bibliography 1. British Nutrition Foundation 2004, http://www.nutrition.org.uk/home.asp?siteId=43§ionId=650&parentSection=321&which=1, accessed April 1rst, 2008 2. Dairy Reporter, Dec 10 2002 http://www.dairyreporter.com/news/ng.asp?id=12474-milk-blamed-for, accessed April 1rst, 2008 3. Second Opinions, http://www.second-opinions.co.uk/anaemia.html, accessed April 1rst, 2008 4. Vegetarian Society, http://www.vegsoc.org/info/iron.html, accessed April 1rst, 2008 5. Draper A, Wheeler E, The diet and Food choice of Vegetarians in Greater London Centre of Human Nutrition London, 1989 6. BBC News, 9th Dec. 2002 http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/2550217.stm, accessed 2nd April 2008 7. Jill S. Halterman, et al 2001 PEDIATRICS Iron Deficiency and Cognitive Achievement Among School-Aged Children and Adolescence in the United States, accessed 1rst April 2008 http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/cgi/reprint/107/6/1381 8. Tereza Kemmer, et al 2003 Community and International Nutrition Iron Deficiency Is Unacceptably High in Refugee Children from Burma, accessed 1rst April 2008, http://jn.nutrition.org/cgi/reprint/133/12/4143 Read More