Iron for Female Physiology

"when a person of your age....."

I wasn't particularly offended by turning 40, until it got medicalised.... my first thought was offended (because that's what I've been conditioned - be ashamed of aging. Then my second brain kicked in (thank goodness) and reminded me about the conditioning and not to be distracted as the GP was just doing their job. That job being dumping the weight of higher prevalence of certain health conditions after 40 on my previous state of "stepping into my power". 

Get back in the game kid you're here because, while you feel more aware than ever of who you are what you rock at -  you are feeling unreasonably tired and forgetful - don't forget the iron blood.

In the relentless study of myself, I'd noticed - sneaking into bed earlier and earlier, running out of tolerance earlier and earlier in the day, and forgetfulness. It wasn't excusable anymore - my life load and rest load were well balanced, these things didn't make sense.

And there it was .... low iron. 

Low Iron can present with a few key symptoms: 

• fatigue / not feeling refreshed after periods of rest

• brain fog/mental fatigability 

• breathlessness

• palpitations

• low mood

It's also more commonly associated with female physiology.

Here's the fun part though - there are some new ideas.

Some smart cookies have questioned the logic of the persisting concept that statistically females have more commonly iron deficiency simply because of blood loss during menstrual cycle.  They also questioned the hypothesis that active females have greater iron deficiency because of capillary/blood vessel damage. It's all in the mix and it's exciting. 

Here is the new conversation

Hepcidin, a protein, the master regulator of systemic iron homeostasis, tightly influences red blood cell production. In the female menstrual cycle, hepcidin appears to be suppressed by estrogen and stimulated by progesterone. 

The other playing factor is that in the presence of high total body inflammation this changes hepcidin's regulation - to the detriment of iron metabolism. Now in a twist, which seems reasonable and powerful to know, as we've said pre-menopausal females tend to lean more to iron deficiency, but postmenopausal women commonly begin to accumulate iron, which can be detrimental to our health also. 

5 Things to adjust

Pre-menopausal 

1. Iron rich foods appear to be better absorbed in the first half of the cycle: our bodies appear to be primed to counteract iron macronutrient loss from menstrual blood loss by the natural shift in hepcidin. 

2. Consume iron rich foods or supplement 3-6 hours after exercise: hepcidin also adjusts in response to exercise, so adjusting your iron biased meals around your exercise optimises your nutritional absorption.

3. Have total blood assessment 2 times a year: we are battlers, we often end up quite the way down the rabbit hole before we notice symptoms, being regular with checking in can minimise the misstep. 

4. Got low iron? Take some time off exercise: slow down to lower level exercise modes, reduce volume and intensity and shift your focus to nutrition for a month or so, iron deficiency that persists will quickly impact your thyroid function. 

Peri-menopausal to Post-menopausal transition

5. Higher intensity interval training (huff and puff work) reduces iron: in the absence of estrogen, regulating exercise is a possible tool to reduce iron absorption for almost an entire day in postmenopausal women who present undesired iron accumulation.