Irony of Anemic Condition: Easy Anemia Home Remedy

Anemia is a widely prevalent health condition associated with lack of blood, general weakness and poor health. As per an estimate by World Health Organisation (WHO) between 1993 and 2005, in 69 countries of the world, children in the age group 0-5 years suffered from severe anemia . one may have a look at the below to have an idea of the prevalence of anemia among pregnant and non pregnant women around the world. Anemic conditions make people weak, fragile and vulnerable to various other health risks. In countries like India, where highest number of maternity deaths occur every day, anemic conditions of women during pregnancy has been identified as the prime cause of such deaths.

As seen from Figure-2, Anemia is popularly known as lack of blood. While a condition like anemia may be hereditary, more often than not, it is a condition caused by loss of blood and the inability of the body to recover the loss owing to poor diet with little iron content. During pregnancy, most women become vulnerable to loss of blood due to increased demand of blood for a growing fetus.

This hub is not written for the scientific community, but with a motive to generate awareness on some common types of anemic conditions which are easily preventable through suitable diet management and home remedies. Therefore, the scope of the hub avoids too much of science (it is also because of the inability of the hub author to get into the science of it), rather discusses some essential broad issues although some effort is made to touch upon a few technical issues. For more details in such technical issues, one may go through hubs written by esteemed fellow hubbers in the automated links on the topic.

Anemia is of various types; some having life threatening and longer term implications. Available literature suggests that all different types of anemia can be classified into three major groups. Those are;

TYPE-1: Blood loss related anemia: Generally women in the fertile age group with excessive menstrual bleeding and women opting for multiple pregnancies suffer from such type of anemia. This type can also occur due to disproportionate loss of blood due to some diseases such as piles, gastritis and frequent use of some anti inflammatory drugs like aspirin etc. However, blood loss in such conditions may be slow and result in anemic conditions over a fairly long period of time. The red blood cells (RBC) that are the vehicles of transportation of oxygen in the body get reduced in number in this type of anemia. Red blood cells are produced in the bone marrow with the help of vitamin B12. We get enough vitamin B 12 from our usual diets. But if the digestive system is defective, the body may fail to absorb vitamin B12 from the food. Such a condition leads to less amount of RBCs created and is called vitamin deficient anemia.

TYPE-2: Blood is Produced Adequately, but has Defective or Inefficient RBCs

There are types of anemia caused due to problematic blood cells with lack of required amount of minerals and vitamins and if the red blood cells (RBC) do not function in a desired manner. As many may be aware, RBCs contain hemoglobin and hemoglobin with iron in its nucleus increases the oxygen carrying capacity of the RBC many folds. For a normal adult male, the hemoglobin count should range between 140-180 grams in a liter of blood and for women, the range is between 120-160 grams. During pregnancy, this count usually does down substantially. If the blood contains less amount of hemoglobin then the oxygen carrying capacity of blood declines and the person makes desperate attempts to get oxygen through short breaths. Such a condition may also be called Iron deficient anemia . At times there are problems in the hemoglobin as well, especially in persons having sickle cell disease. The hemoglobin in such persons contain some genetic mutant that harms the RBCs itself. The blood cells get deformed and the circulation of blood does not happen normally. This is a condition called the sickle cell anemia.

TYPE-3: Iron Deficiency Anemia:

While the above two types also indicate lack of iron content in the blood, sheer lack of iron supplement in the body may also result in anemia. Therefore, it is classified as a separate type of anemia.

Common symptoms of anemia are shown in Figure-4.

The descriptions made above are not a comprehensive overview of anemia. The bottom line is, a person can be anemic for several reasons and the cause needs to be addressed in the treatment of the health condition. Still, evidences suggest that all over the world, prevalence of anemia can be reduced to a great extent through suitable diet management. One may visit a doctor or do a blood test in order to assess whether she has anemia. A prompt for such a visit or test may come from the symptoms as shown in Figure-4. In most cases, a sustainable remedy (not a quick remedy) is achieved easily through traditional ways, by modifying our lifestyle and not through pills. One should go for pills only when the body is not in a position to recover from the condition by itself. In the next section, I have presented some easy ways to address the issue at home.

TIP-1: Provide Adequate Nutrition for the Body:

Most anemic conditions can be countered with adequate nutrition intake into the body. The trick is to take enough iron rich food along with food with adequate vitamin C. This is primarily because, in most plant based iron foods (especially for vegetarian people), the type of iron (non heme) available is less suitable for human body to absorb. Vitamin C substantially increases the iron absorbing capacity of the body. Also try to correct the problems associated with the digestive system (if possible) with the advice of your physician. Usually, fiber rich food such as whole grains enhance the efficiency of the digestive system. In Table-2 and Table-3 we have given a list of foods with highest levels of Iron, Vitamin B-12 and Vitamin C content.

The comparisons presented in Table-2 and Table-3 are clear. It is estimated that the daily iron requirement for an average adult is around 18-20 mg that can be availed from either 70-80 grams of oyster or around 600 grams of spinach. Similarly, in case of Vitamin B12, it is either around 8 grams of lamb lever or around 250 grams of fortified tofu. People who are completely vegetarian are more likely to get vitamin B12 or iron deficiency. Fruits like Guava may give more vitamin C compared to expensive Broccoli. So, one need not spend a lot of money to fight anemia. What one really needs is some awareness on benefits of some daily use items in right balance.

One needs to avoid items that may hinder iron absorption in the body. For example, coffee and tea should be avoided as they reduce iron absorption. Medicines like antacids also reduce iron absorption. Cooking food in iron pots especially the foods with salt and citrus on iron utensils adds significantly to the iron content of the food. Some people also believe that regular body massage also helps blood circulation and is beneficial for the anemic. Vitamin B12 consumption also adds additional benefit. As the Table-2 and Table-3 suggests some of the foods like fish and meat contain multiple requirements for anemic conditions. Having a balanced lifestyle with these food items surely helps in anemia.

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