Welcome to the Ask a Nutritionist podcast, brought to you by Nutritional Weight and Wellness.

We are thrilled to have you join us today as we discuss the connection between what you eat and how you feel and share practical real-life solutions for healthier living through balanced nutrition.

Now let's get started.

Good morning and welcome to Dishing Up Nutrition's new midweek

segment called Ask a Nutritionist. I am Brittany Vincent, a registered and licensed

dietitian. And on today's show brought to by Nutrition Weight and Wellness, I will be

answering a nutrition question that we've received from one of our Dishing Up Nutrition listeners.

And the topic or the question for today is I would like to learn more about iron deficiency.

I think this is a great topic because I see it affecting a lot of my clients.

And through listening to this, maybe some of you will discover it's

an issue for you or learn how to overcome it. So let's start just by defining what iron deficiency is.

So it's defined as the decrease of the total content of iron in the body.

And then there's iron deficiency anemia.

So that is more severe.

And that is a condition where the lack of iron in the body will lead to a reduction in the

number of red blood cells.

So if you have iron deficiency anemia, your symptoms are likely going to be more severe.

And then let's talk about what is iron's role in the body?

So it's a mineral that is needed for growth and development.

It's used in a variety of different processes in the body.

One of the major roles that it plays is to make chemoglobin, which is a protein in our red blood cells that carries oxygen from our lungs to all different areas of the body. Iron also helps to provide oxygen to our muscles

as well. Your body also needs iron to make certain hormones as well as it is used in DNA synthesis.

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