anaemia

Anaemia is a condition in which the blood has too little haemoglobin (or too few healthy red blood cells), so the body gets less oxygen than it needs.

• Why iron matters: Iron is needed to make haemoglobin, the red-coloured protein that carries oxygen from the lungs to all parts of the body.
• What you may feel: Tiredness, weakness, dizziness, headache, shortness of breath on running, and sometimes pale skin or pale inside the eyelids.
• How it can happen: Not eating enough iron-rich food, poor absorption of iron, or blood loss (for example, heavy menstrual bleeding). In some cases, worm infection can also lead to iron loss.
• Common in growing children: During growth spurts, the body needs extra iron to make more blood, so anaemia can occur if the diet does not meet the increased need.
• Preventing and improving it: Eat iron-rich foods like spinach and other leafy vegetables, pulses/beans, jaggery, dates, groundnuts, meat/eggs (if eaten). Taking vitamin C (like lemon, amla, orange) with meals helps the body absorb iron better.
• Important point: Anaemia is a deficiency disease, not an infection—so it does not spread from person to person, and it improves when the cause (especially iron deficiency) is corrected.