Abingdon Health’s Global Product Manager, Dr Elen Withycombe, explores what iron deficiency is, how it affects us, what we can do to measure our levels and the actions we can take, where required.
What is Ferritin (Iron) Deficiency?
Ferritin is a protein inside your cells that stores iron, allowing your body to utilise iron when needed. Ferritin, and the iron it stores, is found in all cells, especially high in the liver, spleen and bone marrow.
Ferritin deficiency is a condition in which your body doesn’t have enough ferritin. This can lead to iron deficiency anaemia, a condition in which your body doesn’t have enough iron. Iron is needed to make hemoglobin, a protein in red blood cells that carries oxygen to your tissues. Without enough iron, your body can’t make enough healthy red blood cells, which can lead to anaemia.
Knowing this, measuring our ferritin levels is therefore a strong indicator of whether we may be iron deficient or not.
What To Look Out For
The NHS lists a wide range of symptoms of iron deficiency including:
- Fatigue
- Weakness
- Shortness of breath
- Pale skin
- Headache
- Dizziness
- Cold hands and feet
- Restless legs syndrome
- Brittle hair and nails
- Tongue sores
How To Test For Ferritin Deficiency
Ferritin deficiency can be diagnosed with a blood test. Typically these have always been done at your GP’s clinic, however, convenient and accurate at-home rapid self-tests like the Abingdon Simply Test Iron test allows for you to measure your ferritin levels cost-effectively and efficiently in the comfort of your own home. This enables you to proactively manage and maintain your health and wellbeing.
The Abingdon Simply Test provides an indication of the level of ferritin in your blood and will let you know whether you have sufficient or deficient levels of ferritin.
What To Do With The Result Of A Home Rapid Self-Test For Ferritin Deficiency
If your result shows that you may be ferritin deficient, it is always recommended to seek medical advice from a doctor to confirm the diagnosis and discuss treatment options. Treatment for ferritin deficiency typically involves taking iron supplements.
Things You Can Do Yourself
If your diet is partly causing your iron deficiency anaemia, your GP will tell you what foods are rich in iron so you can eat more of them. According to the NHS you should:
Eat more:
- dark-green leafy vegetables like watercress and curly kale
- cereals and bread with extra iron in them (fortified)
- meat
- dried fruit like apricots, prunes and raisins
- pulses (beans, peas and lentils)
Eat and drink less:
- tea
- coffee
- milk and dairy
Foods with high levels of phytic acid, such as wholegrain cereals, can stop your body absorbing iron from other foods and pills. Large amounts of these foods and drinks make it harder for your body to absorb iron.
What Happens If Iron Deficiency Anaemia Is Not Treated
According to the NHS, untreated iron deficiency anaemia can make you more at risk of illness and infection as a lack of iron affects the immune system. It may also increase your risk of developing complications that affect the heart or lungs, such as an abnormally fast heartbeat (tachycardia) or heart failure. In pregnancy, it can cause a greater risk of complications before and after birth.
Advice From a Professional
Dr Linda Odogwu, a registered NHS GP and founder of the Thanks Doc online GP service has sound advice for those experiencing symptoms of iron deficiency:
“Testing for iron deficiency is an important step in understanding whether this is contributing to symptoms like tiredness, shortness of breath, heart palpitations, pale skin and other more serious underlying conditions. Whilst your GP can undertake a range of blood tests in-clinic, for a preliminary screening of possible deficiencies, at-home self-tests like the Abingdon Simply Test Iron Deficiency Test can give you an accurate understanding of whether you have satisfactory levels or not within minutes, very cost-effectively. These tests can help determine whether you need further testing or advice.”
What Next?
If you’re concerned about any of the symptoms listed or you’re interested to find out if your iron levels are sufficient, get a test from our range with quick delivery to your door and get answers quickly.