IRON deficiency is one of the most extensive nutritional problems in the world, especially in developing countries and among low-income populations, although it is present in every country.

Thus, it is worth repeating that from an early age to old age, any deficiency should be treated with priority.

The reduction of iron intake in a daily diet leads to a gradual reduction in its levels in the body, with the consequent appearance of anemia called ferropexia. If this condition is not reversed, iron deficiency anemia may compromise psycho-motor development and cognitive abilities during growth stages.

Iron in the body is found in diverse elements or substances (compounds) where hemoglobin possesses between 65 and 705 of the total. It is stored in two ways: ferritin and hemosiderin. In the first instance, a reduction in deposits occurs, not yet associated with clinical symptoms of anemia, where the body increases absorption of this element if its supply through eating is adequate.

If not, the shortage is accentuated with a decrease in diverse compounds responsible for its transport, showing itself only through biochemical determinations.

Finally, when the iron deficit gives rise to a decrease in hemoglobin production, ferropectic anemia occurs, principally manifested through paleness of the skin and mucous membranes; unusual tiredness; lack of appetite and decreased abilities or performance in school or work. The body needs iron to generate hemoglobin, the protein complex that transports oxygen through the blood, and to build enzymes like cytochromes, which act as catalysts in order to produce energy in cells.

Iron is so important that the human body has developed strategies to conserve it. Excess iron is enclosed by a protein called ferritin and stored in bone marrow, the liver and the spleen. When tired, the body resorts to this reserve.

Likewise, except when we bleed, iron is only eliminated from the body in miniscule quantities. That is why women are at risk of anemia during menstruation. Men are most at risk for iron overload, which can lead to diabetes, arthritis, cancer of the liver, heart problems and other organ disorders.

Experts are concerned about the well-known theory that iron causes oxygen damage to tissues and organs, generating some chemical products that are extremely radioactive, called free radicals.

Test tube experiments have shown that this mineral is a powerful catalyst, promoting chemical reactions that snatch electrons from one molecule and provide it to another.

This ability makes it a valuable component of enzymes. In turn, if the iron takes over the body’s electrons at random, free radicals produced could harm vital proteins, lipids and DNA, disintegrating cells or making them cancerous. It is reasonable to believe that they could cause oxygen damage to the body. Of course, it is very improbable that they couldn’t, affirms Lawrence Loeb, director of the Joseph Gottstein Cancer Laboratory at the University of Washington in Seattle.

Other U.S. scientists acknowledge that there are good theoretical reasons to research the relationship between iron and cancer, which is why they are now reevaluating the preponderance of iron deficiency and an overabundance of the mineral in food.

Iron is a widely distributed element in nature, and carries out vital functions. The most important is the transport of oxygen from breathing to different body tissues. That function is carried out thanks to its combination with proteins to form hemoglobin as part of the blood cells that transport oxygen. It is also a component of myoglobin, which gives our muscles their red color and stores oxygen in them.