Iron

Iron is very important in human body and it is very well functioned. Iron play major role in respiration and it takes part in energy production as well. Iron is very helpful to keep body very much stable and healthy. Iron is very important part of body constituents for example hemoglobin, myoglobin, enzymes like cytochromes, catalase, xanthine oxidase, mitochondrial alpha glycerophosphate oxidase, etc. the iron content of hemoglobin is 0.34%.

Foods rich in iron or iron rich foods are mostly animal sources. It is well known that animal sources are the food high in iron and these iron high food contain liver, red meat ad egg yolk. Of the vegetables, spinach and other leafy vegetables are good sources. Dried fruits also contain appreciable amounts of iron. A fact of great importance is that milk is very low in iron (1mg/litre) cooking in iron utensil increases iron contents of food. Above is the list of iron rich foods and these iron rich foods are abundant and can be taken in diet daily.

The absorption of iron in normal persons is quite imperfect and only about 5-10% of the iron taken in food is absorbed chiefly in portions the intestine proximal to the mid –jejunum and absorption is much less in more caudal segments. There are two unique ways for iron absorption. These are given below:

1. Iron taken in heme (derived from hemoglobin, myoglobin act) is oxidized to form hem in which enters the mucosal cells later and oxidize cleaves the porphyrin ring and iron is free in the mucosal cells some heme may also enter plasma as such and it bound to the heme-binding protein called hemopexin.

2. Other forms of food iron which are mainly in the ferric state (ferric hydroxide to loosely bound to organic molecules such as sugars, citrate, lactate and amino acids) are first converted to Fe2+ form.

Iron is one way element. The body uses its iron very efficiently and very little iron is lost from the body of normal males which amounts to 0.5 to 1mg iron loss/day mainly through the Sam intestine: practically no iron is present in urine. Excessive sweating may cause a loss of 2-3mg of iron/day. Iron deficiency anemia is of hypo chromic, microcytic type. It is the most common type of anemia being especially present in women at children bearing age and infants below 1 year of age. Another special cause is bleeding which may take place in GIT a. the RBC have smaller size and have less hemoglobin. The RBC level in iron deficiency anemia is low but hemoglobin level of blood is still lower. Plasma iron concentration is usually less than 80ug/dlassociated with total iron binding capacity of more than 400ug/dl. In addition to the symptoms which are common to all anemias such as pale appearance and breathlessness on minor exertion, the patient shows some characteristic features. These include a derangement of epithelial surface such as abnormal nail growth, glossitis, fissures around corner of the mouth ad localized thickening of mucosal lining of esophagus causing dysphasia.

Biochemical investigations done for diagnosing iron deficiency include serum iron, total iron binding capacity and serum ferratin levels. However themostsensitive way to detect early iron deficiency is to examine bone marrow stained to detect the presence or absence of storage ion.

To avoid iron deficiency people mostly go for iron supplements. Supplements are the best way to avoid any kind of certain deficiency and by taking supplement of that component deficiency easily go away. Low iron in food causes this deficiency and if we keep taking iron supplements then their will be no iron deficiency seen. Iron in cereal is also present many cereal are nourished with iron so that iron in cereal can nourish human body.

Iron supplements are not only way to get iron daily but iron rich food and most of all iron in water, which is called mineral water, is taken. This iron in water is ever good for health as it absorbs easily along with water and provides better nourishments.