Iron Deficiency Anemia
Iron is necessary for managing body functions. Iron plays a significant role in the
production of hemoglobin which is the molecule in your blood responsible for carrying oxygen
to vital organs and cells (American Society of Hematology, 2016). Iron is absorbed into the body
by the cells in the gastrointestinal tract from the foods we eat. However, the body only absorbs a
small portion of our iron intake (American Society of Hematology, 2016). Iron is reusable. In
other words, the body can store iron for future use in order to maintain a balance with iron and
hemoglobin (Huether & McCance, 2017). The most common type of anemia is iron deficiency
anemia (IDA) (Huether & McCance, 2017). IDA encompasses three stages. In Stage I, the body’s
iron stores are depleted. Stage II occurs when an insufficient amount of iron is transported to the
bone marrow. Stage III begins when hemoglobin-deficient cells replace healthy cells in
circulation (Huether & McCance, 2017). Pregnancy and a continuous loss of blood are the most
common causes of IDA (Huether & McCance, 2017). Men diagnosed with IDA resulting from
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