Those Wavy Fingernails Are Not a Sign of Good Health
I was sitting in the waiting room at the Honda dealer last Friday and a middle aged woman next to me mentioned she had celiac disease after hearing me turn down a complimentary pastry. We…
Anemia, Iron Deficiency
What Is Iron Deficiency Anemia?
Iron deficiency anemia is a blood cell disorder that is characterized by formation of small, pale red blood cells, causing tissue hypoxia. Hypoxia is the inability to meet the demands of the body for oxygen.
Q: Why do small, pale red blood cells cause tissue hypoxia?
A: Small, pale red blood cells (erythrocytes) cause tissue hypoxia because they are not able, as do normal erythrocytes, to pick up adequate oxygen from the lungs and carry it to cells that use oxygen.
Red blood cell production and function are dependent on a sufficient level of iron in the body and also the ability to use available iron to make hemoglobin in red blood cells.
Hemoglobin is a protein that binds oxygen in red blood cells to be carried by the bloodstream to cells throughout the body. In iron deficiency anemia, hemoglobin in females is below 12.5g/dl (normal range is 12.5 to 16g/dl) and in males it is below 13.5g/dl (normal range is 13.5 to 17.5g/dl).
Iron must be obtained from the diet, since the body cannot make it, but there are various factors that can interfere with absorption and use in the body, causing anemia. Iron absorption from the gut first requires ionization, or gaining a positive electrical charge, in the strongly acidic environment of stomach juice. Ionized iron, only, can be absorbed in the duodenum, which receives the acidic contents of the stomach before it is neutralized further along.
Dietary iron can be heme or non-heme depending on the food source. Heme iron obtained only from animal food sources is absorbed into the bloodstream by active transport across the brush border (microvilli) which cover the multitudinous villi of the small intestinal lining.
Non-heme iron obtained from plants must bind with apoprotein after entering the enterocyte (surface cell of small intestinal lining) to be ferried to the underlying basolateral membrane and exited by active transport into the bloodstream.
Frequently, chronic anemia due to iron deficiency is accompanied by increased platelets, and this thrombocytosis resolves with iron repletion (normal iron level). Conversely, in severe iron deficiency anemia, patients may have thrombocytopenia (low platelets), which also resolves with iron therapy.1
What Is Iron Deficiency Anemia In Celiac Disease and/or Gluten Sensitivity?
Sources:- Koury M and Rhodes M. How to approach chronic anemia. Hematology Am Soc Hematol Educ Program. 2012;2012:183-90. doi: 10.1182/asheducation-2012.1.183. [↩]
Iron Deficiency
What Is Iron?
Iron is an essential mineral that is required for normal body function.
Almost two-thirds of iron in the body is found in hemoglobin, the protein in red blood cells that carries oxygen to tissues. Smaller amounts of iron are found in myoglobin, a protein that helps supply oxygen to muscle, and in enzymes that assist biochemical reactions.
Iron is also found in proteins that store iron for future needs and that transport iron in blood.
Q: How are iron stores regulated?
A:Iron stores are regulated by intestinal iron absorption.1That is, whenever iron is needed, more iron is absorbed than when iron is sufficient. This mechanism prevents excess iron in the body which is harmful.
In the brain, iron is necessary to ensure oxygenation and to produce energy in the cerebral parenchyma (via cytochrome oxid. ase), and for the synthesis of neurotransmitters and myelin.
Iron concentrations in the umbilical artery are critical during the development of the fetus, and in relation with the IQ in the child.2
What Is Iron Deficiency In Celiac Disease and/or Gluten Sensitivity?
Sources:Koilonychia (Washboard Nails)
![Epistaxis1[1]](https://glutenfreeworks.com/health/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/Epistaxis11-300x225.jpg)
What Is Epistaxis?
![Epistaxis1[1]](https://glutenfreeworks.com/health/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/Epistaxis11.jpg)
E pistaxis, or nosebleed, is a feature of secondary hemostasis (blood clotting) characterized by fragility of a plexus of blood vessels in the antero-inferior septum (just inside nostril) and/or abnormal blood coagulation.
What Is Epistaxis In Celiac Disease and/or Gluten Sensitivity?
Hemochromatosis (Iron Overload Disease)
What Is Hemochromatosis?
Hemochromatosis, also called iron overload liver disease, is a common inherited disease in the Caucasian population that is characterized by increased iron deposition within the tissues (overload) associated with injury to them.
Hemochromatosis is an autosomal recessive disease, meaning a pair of abnormal genes are inherited from each parent. Parents are unaffected because they carry only one gene.
Q: Where is iron deposited?
A: In hemochromatosis, more iron is absorbed from the small intestine than is needed by the body. Subsequently, because the body has no satisfactory means to release iron overload, excess iron is deposited in various organs such as the liver causing cirrhosis, joints causing arthritis, and the pancreas causing diabetes mellitus.1
Consumption of alcoholic drinks with food should be avoided because alcohol increases leaky gut and greatly increases the absorption of iron. On the flip side, eggs and foods containing calcium such as milk and cheese are beneficial for hemochromatosis because they impair the absorption of iron. Another iron inhibitor is food that contains phytic acid which includes the bran and outer layer of grains, seeds, nuts, peas, beans, and lentils.
Iron overloading, as measured by a random (non-fasting) elevated transferrin saturation value, is estimated to occur in 1 to 6 people per 100 in the United States according to the CDC (Center for Disease Control and Prevention). Too much iron increases the risk for metabolic syndrome, type 2 diabetes mellitus, cancer, liver disease, and osteoporosis.
Medical treatment to remove excess iron from the body uses phlebotomy that draws blood through a vein and/or certain injectable drugs (deferoxamine and deferairox) that bind to iron.
What Is Hemochromatosis In Celiac Disease and/or Gluten Sensitivity?
Sources:- www.irondisorders.org [↩]
Plummer-Vinson Syndrome Affecting Esophagus: definition
A rare iron deficiency disorder that is characterized by a combination of postcricoid esophageal webs (upper throat area), iron deficiency anemia, dysphagia and koilonychia (nail spooning), predisposing to esophageal cancer. Click for full description.
Koilonychia: definition
A feature of an iron deficiency state characterized by abnormally shaped nails, called spoon shaped nails, that reverse the normal downward curve and have vertical ridges that can become deep, called washboard nails. Click for full description.