Four in ten women are iron deficient due to the rise of veganism, a shock study suggests.
Researchers found that 39 percent of girls and women ages 12 to 21 lack this important nutrient, which can lead to symptoms such as extreme fatigue, dizziness and weakness.
Six percent of those women had developed anemia — when there isn’t enough oxygen in the blood — which intensifies those symptoms and can cause anxiety and depression.
Iron is a mineral vital to growth and development and is found mainly in meats, dark leafy vegetables, beans and dark chocolate, but even in red wine, tofu and certain breakfast cereals.
“There have been nutritional studies showing that the iron content of the foods we eat in the United States as a whole has decreased over time,” said lead author Angela Weyand of the University of Michigan. New scientist.
“People are eating less red meat and more are becoming vegan or vegetarian.”
A new study published Tuesday in JAMA found that nearly 40 percent of girls and women between the ages of 12 and 21 were iron deficient. About six percent had iron deficiency anemia
The researchers linked the list of vegetarian and vegan diets to iron deficiency in girls and young women
The researchers evaluated blood samples from 3,490 nonpregnant girls and women ages 12 to 21 in the United States between 2003 and 2020. Of the 39 percent who were iron deficient, six percent had iron deficiency anemia.
Iron deficiency anemia is a common form of anemia, a condition in which the blood does not have enough healthy red blood cells.
As the name implies, iron deficiency anemia results from an insufficient amount of iron. Iron is needed to help red blood cells produce hemoglobin, which carries oxygen.
If the body does not get enough oxygen, you may feel tired or weak.
Symptoms, said the Mayo clinicinclude extreme tiredness, weakness, pale skin, chest pain, fast heart rate, shortness of breath, headache, dizziness, light-headedness, cold hands or feet, inflammation, brittle nails, craving for non-food items such as ice or dirt, and poor appetite.
Left untreated, iron deficiency anemia has been linked to several serious health problems. For example, according to the Office of Women’s HealthAnemia can lead to organ damage. It can also lead to heart damage, as the heart has to work harder to make up for the lack of hemoglobin.
Not getting enough iron can also make you more prone to panic attacks. A 2020 study in the journal BMC Psychiatry found that men and women with iron-deficiency anemia were more likely to have psychiatric disorders, regardless of other confounders.
Iron deficiency anemia is particularly dangerous for pregnant women, as research shows increase the risk of death for both mother and child.
Vegetarian diets have long been associated with iron deficiency, as many meats and other animal products are rich in iron.
A 2018 review in the American journal of lifestyle medicine suggested that vegetarians are more likely to have depleted iron stores, which could lead to deficiency.
These diets are on the rise. A October survey of researchers at Kansas State University found that 10 to 15 percent of Americans identified as vegetarian or vegan as of 2020. In addition, 60 percent of American households ate vegetarian.
In 1994, the nonprofit Vegetarian Resource Group found that only one percent of Americans had sworn off meat.
Menstruation may be another common reason why women are so flawed. Just now two percent of menhave an iron deficiency on average.
However, in the JAMA study, more than a quarter of the girls who had not yet started their period were iron deficient.
The number of years participants menstruated was not associated with iron deficiency.
Previous research, such as a 2017 study in the Journal of Pediatric and Adolescent Gynecologyhas linked heavy menstrual bleeding in teenage patients to iron deficiency anemia.
The researchers also pointed to a low body mass index (BMI), food insecurity, poverty, non-white races and Hispanic ethnicity.
The researchers noted that while supplements and certain foods can increase a person’s iron levels, insufficient screening means that many people with an iron deficiency don’t know they should be taking them.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends anemia screening for nonpregnant female adolescents and women every five to 10 years.
The National Health Institutes (NIH) recommends that girls and women between the ages of 14 and 50 get 15 to 18 milligrams of iron every day. Men should get 8 to 11 milligrams between the same age groups.
The agency also suggested that pregnant women get 27 milligrams per day.
Several foods are also packed with iron, including red meat, poultry, seafood, beans, dark green leafy vegetables like spinach, and dried fruit.
For vegans, one cup of cooked lentils contains 6.6 milligrams of iron, about 37 percent of the daily recommended value.
And a one-ounce serving of dark chocolate has 3.4 milligrams, or 19 percent of the daily recommended value.
The findings have been published in JAMA.