Boost iron without boosting iron
A circadian-centric response to the question, “Can a baby really be iron deficient before 1 year of age?” with iron-boosting tips for grown-ups, too
A good place to start for the question of iron deficiency anemia in babies might be: why are we routinely measuring iron levels in the first place?
Iron supports:
oxygen transport
collagen synthesis
vitamin d metabolism
bone health (growth and remodeling - plus, red blood cells are made in the bones!)
neurotransmitters
immune function
mitochondrial health
myelination of the nerves
and more!
With so many systems depending upon iron, it makes sense to respect and care for iron status. Yet concurrent factors—low economic status, lack of stimulation in the home, parasite infections, and other nutritional deficiencies—may also be contributing to the effects seen with iron deficiency1. The standard test—> supplement model may be overly simplistic by focusing on intake to the exclusion of factors that can improve absorption and recycling:
“Maintenance of iron homeostasis is the consequence of tight coordination between iron absorption from the diet by enterocytes, and iron recycling by macrophages...”2
Beaumont, C., & Delaby, C. (2009)
Plus, oral iron is not always tolerated or complied with. If increasing intake is the only option, what about the people who can’t or won’t supplement? For example, the person who was asking about iron status in babies also wanted to know what, besides supplementing, could be supportive to a breastfed baby who was testing low on iron. Why? Aside from the potential risks of supplementation3, the baby in question had just thrown up their first dose!
Here are some ideas for supporting iron and iron-dependent systems without consuming more iron. The mama-baby dyad can:
focus on increasing iron cofactors in mama’s diet as well as foods for the baby (ie, b vitamins, vitamin c, vitamin d and others) while decreasing iron absorption inhibitors (ie, reducing phytic acid/phytates and eating calcium foods separately from iron foods)4
a healthy gut and balanced nutritional intake helps optimize iron absorption
balance glucose (consider eliminating fructose entirely)5
excess glucose unbalances many minerals in the body, including iron
practice nasal breathing6
breathing through the nose in early life increases oxygen availability
practice earthing7 (if mama grounds, the baby will absorb electrons anywhere they are skin to skin)
earthing/grounding improves blood flow and the health of red blood cells
limit exposure to man-made electricity (emf)8
emfs reduce red blood cell function
get unfiltered sunlight at sunrise and sunset9—nature’s red light “device”10
photobiomodulation increases the availability of oxygen
limit artificial light at night (ALAN)11
ALAN is associated with long-term mental health problems that may be worse in combination with problems in iron metabolism
get better sleep12
iron metabolism has a circadian rhythm that depends on healthy light/dark signals and timed eating for optimal expression
This topic of iron deficiency is especially interesting to me for the implications on the circadian rhythm. Not only does iron metabolism depend on a healthy circadian rhythm, the circadian rhythm itself is modulated by dietary iron13. Getting both right could be a life-altering improvement for many families!
Does the circadian connection to iron metabolism spark your curiosity, too? Make sure you are subscribed because we are going to be diving deep on quantum iron metabolism in the coming months!
Saloojee, H., & Pettifor, J. M. (2001). Iron deficiency and impaired child development: The relation may be causal, but it may not be a priority for intervention. BMJ (Clinical research ed.), 323(7326), 1377–1378. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.323.7326.1377
Beaumont, C., & Delaby, C. (2009). Recycling iron in normal and pathological states. Seminars in hematology, 46(4), 328–338. https://doi.org/10.1053/j.seminhematol.2009.06.004
Georgieff, M. K., Krebs, N. F., & Cusick, S. E. (2019). The Benefits and Risks of Iron Supplementation in Pregnancy and Childhood. Annual review of nutrition, 39, 121–146. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-nutr-082018-124213
Piskin, E., Cianciosi, D., Gulec, S., Tomas, M., & Capanoglu, E. (2022). Iron Absorption: Factors, Limitations, and Improvement Methods. ACS omega, 7(24), 20441–20456. https://doi.org/10.1021/acsomega.2c01833
Harder, N. H. O., Hieronimus, B., Stanhope, K. L., Shibata, N. M., Lee, V., Nunez, M. V., Keim, N. L., Bremer, A., Havel, P. J., Heffern, M. C., & Medici, V. (2020). Effects of Dietary Glucose and Fructose on Copper, Iron, and Zinc Metabolism Parameters in Humans. Nutrients, 12(9), 2581. https://doi.org/10.3390/nu12092581
Torre, C., & Guilleminault, C. (2018). Establishment of nasal breathing should be the ultimate goal to secure adequate craniofacial and airway development in children. Jornal de pediatria, 94(2), 101–103. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jped.2017.08.002
Menigoz, W., Latz, T. T., Ely, R. A., Kamei, C., Melvin, G., & Sinatra, D. (2020). Integrative and lifestyle medicine strategies should include Earthing (grounding): Review of research evidence and clinical observations. Explore (New York, N.Y.), 16(3), 152–160. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.explore.2019.10.005
Jbireal JM, Azab AE, Elsayed ASI. Disturbance in haematological parameters induced by exposure to electromagnetic fields. Hematol Transfus Int J. 2018;6(6):242-251. DOI: 10.15406/htij.2018.06.00193
Barolet, D., Christiaens, F., & Hamblin, M. R. (2016). Infrared and skin: Friend or foe. Journal of photochemistry and photobiology. B, Biology, 155, 78–85. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jphotobiol.2015.12.014
Linares, S. N., Beltrame, T., Ferraresi, C., Galdino, G. A. M., & Catai, A. M. (2020). Photobiomodulation effect on local hemoglobin concentration assessed by near-infrared spectroscopy in humans. Lasers in medical science, 35(3), 641–649. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10103-019-02861-x
Jin, J., Han, W., Yang, T., Xu, Z., Zhang, J., Cao, R., Wang, Y., Wang, J., Hu, X., Gu, T., He, F., Huang, J., & Li, G. (2023). Artificial light at night, MRI-based measures of brain iron deposition and incidence of multiple mental disorders. The Science of the total environment, 902, 166004. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.166004
Kuhn, E., & Brodan, V. (1982). Changes in the circadian rhythm of serum iron induced by a 5-day sleep deprivation. European journal of applied physiology and occupational physiology, 49(2), 215–222. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02334070
Kalhan, S. C., & Ghosh, A. (2015). Dietary iron, circadian clock, and hepatic gluconeogenesis. Diabetes, 64(4), 1091–1093. https://doi.org/10.2337/db14-1697