الفهرس 
IronOnly 14 pages are availabe for public view
 |  | from | 170 |  |  |
| | | from | 170 | | |
Abstract
Iron is an important and essential element and it has the most
common and best described history among all micronutrients. It is an
important element in the metabolic processes of almost all living
organisms. In humans, iron is an essential component of multiple of
proteins and enzymes.
There are two types of dietary iron :heme iron,which is found in the
animal foods such as red meats, fish, and poultry and non heme iron
which is found in the plant foods such as lentils and beans and heme
iron is absorbed much better than non-heme iron.
There are three stages of ID may be recognized:first, the amount of
stored iron (measured by serum ferritin concentration) is reduced or
sometimes absent, but the amount of transport and functional iron may
not be affected. Blood hemoglobin levels are usually normal.
Then stored iron is depleted and transport iron (measured by
transferrin saturation) is reduced further; the amount of iron absorbed
is not sufficient to replace the amount lost or to provide the amount
needed for growth and erythropoietic function resulting in increased
erthryocyte protoporphyrin concentration. While, hemoglobin levels
may be reduced but the resulting mild anemia may not be detectable
using normal cutoff values for hemoglobin
Then severe form of iron deficiency occur where there is shortage of
iron stores, transport and functional iron, resulting in significant
reduction in Hb and a decrease in mean corpuscular volume, in
addition to low serum ferritin, low transferring saturation and
increased erythrocyte protoporphyrin concentration Achild with iron deficiency can presented by paleness of skin,
lips, hands, and conjunctiva, lack of energy, easy fatigability,
shortness of breath, light-headedness when standing up, headache,fast
heart rate (tachycardia).cold hands and feet, anorexia and poor
memory.
IDA can be prevented by treatment and prevention of maternal
anemia And improving newborn iron status by prevention of low birth
weight and delayed clamping of the umbilical cord.We should also
Optimize infant and young child iron status . Also food fortification is
an important method
The preterm infant (<37 weeks‘ gestation) who is fed human milk
should receive a supplement of elemental iron at 2 mg/kg per day
starting by 1 month of age and extending through 12 months of age.
This can be provided as medicinal iron drops.
Infants who are born at term assumed to have sufficient iron
stores until 4 to 6 months of age. Infants born at term have high Hb
concentration and high blood volume in proportion to body weight.
They experience a physiologic decline in both blood volume and Hb
concentration during the first several months of life so we start iron
supplementation by 1 mg\kg at he forth month of life.
Treatment of IDA occur through:optimising absorption by
minimizing inhibitors and maximizing enhancers and oral iron therapy
through ferrous components (3-6 mglkglday according to severity)
and lactoferrin also may be used specially during infections.
And we should give high concern to iron deficiency as if it is
not treated early it will give along lasting effect for life on cognition
,IQ and academic achievement as it affect neurotransmitters and
myelination so it has long lasting effect.