Iron Levels and Mental Health.

Dr. Wendy Zhou, ND

Let’s talk about a scene that I wish to see a little less of — a teenage/ young adolescent girl walks into a doctor’s office seeking help for mental health, and walks out with a prescription for antidepressant and nothing else. What if someone looked into her blood test and saw inadequate nutrition, a poor diet, Ferritin Levels, and an onset of heavy menstrual bleeding? What if someone just told her to take iron and hold off on the prescription medications?

How Iron Impacts Mental Health:

From research and literature, we know that iron deficient anemia worsens mental health. If people had a low iron level during critical periods of life (ie. infancy, postpartum), it is harder for them to maintain a healthy mental health.

There are studies (Shah 2021) showing that if a mom is low in iron during pre-conception (especially during the 2nd trimester), it may lead to behaviour changes in the child and can impact the child throughout life. Moreover, repletion of iron for that child does not seem to decrease risk of diagnosis, but it may ease symptoms. Shah 2021 also noted permanent brain structural changes if the mother has an iron depletion during the second trimester. This leads to observed behavioural changes such as fearfulness in a child, unhappiness, fatigue, low activity levels, wariness, solemnity, and close proximity to the mother during free-play time.

Another study looking at iron deficiency during pregnancy (Georgieff 2020) states that there could be a greater risk of diagnosis of schizophrenia (30% higher) and greater risk of developing autism.

Both studies agree that there is a higher risk of anxiety and depression for the child lasting to adulthood when a baby is born with low serum (blood level) iron.

On the other hand, we see that giving iron supplements to adults (age 15-50) drastically may help with mental health symptoms. It also prevents risk of developing anxiety and depression by 15% (Lee 2020). Furthermore, it also decreases sleep disorder diagnosis when we adequately supplement with iron.

How doctor assess Iron Deficiency Using Ferritin Levels

Ferritin is the marker on the blood test r iron level in blood. The ‘normal’ range is between 5-272. However,we see that anything less than 35 would be considered iron depletion by the World Health Organization. Oftentimes, when you walk into the doctor’s office, if the number is within that 5-272, your doctor will not say anything, and they are less likely to link your mental health complaints to iron. We also see in research that we lose 1% of red blood cells per day when there is an inadequate amount of iron. For your doctor to assess you as anemic, we are already a little late to the game. On the positive side, we have seen that iron makes a remarkable difference in mental health if your ferritin level falls below 35.

The Right Iron

There are so many types of iron on the market. When we see people who have been on iron for a long time still have low iron upon blood test, we believe it is because they are not taking the right ones for them. If one is doing iron correctly, they should see positive changes in their blood work within 3 months. They also should be seeing positive symptom changes within two weeks. Additionally, monitoring Ferritin levels is crucial for ensuring ongoing care.

Please speak to your healthcare providers if you believe you are in need of an iron investigation. Still unsure? Book a free 15-minute discovery call to learn more and to see if a naturopathic visit would benefit you! At Naturopathicliving Medical Solutions, we work with our clients to provide holistic care

References

Shah, Hira E., et al. “Iron Deficiency-Induced Changes in the Hippocampus, Corpus Striatum, and Monoamines Levels That Lead to Anxiety, Depression, Sleep Disorders, and Psychotic Disorders.” Cureus 13.9 (2021).

Lee, Herng-Sheng, et al. “Psychiatric disorders risk in patients with iron deficiency anemia and association with iron supplementation medications: a nationwide database analysis.” BMC psychiatry 20.1 (2020): 1-9.

Georgieff, Michael K. “Iron deficiency in pregnancy.” American journal of obstetrics and gynecology 223.4 (2020): 516-524.