The Impacts of Iron Insufficiency: More Than Just Fatigue

Are you feeling more tired than usual or noticing mood changes? Iron deficiency could be the culprit. As the most common nutritional insufficiency worldwide, low iron can affect many aspects of your health—beyond just causing fatigue.

Common symptoms include shortness of breath, dizziness, pale skin, cold hands or feet, headaches, and hair loss. But less well-known are the mental health impacts: low mood, irritability, anxiety, difficulty concentrating, and even symptoms similar to ADHD.

Iron deficiency can exist without anemia. This means that while hemoglobin levels may be normal, your body’s iron stores are depleted, and symptoms are still present. Ferritin, the protein that stores iron in the body, is a key marker for detecting deficiency, yet many are told that our levels are fine despite having symptoms. The World Health Organization (WHO) considers a ferritin level under 30 indicative of iron deficiency. We actually think people feel best when their Ferritin levels are over 80, but many lab reference ranges use a cutoff of 15, leaving many cases of iron insufficiency undiagnosed and untreated.

Athletes, especially female endurance athletes, and postpartum individuals are particularly at risk. In the postpartum period, iron deficiency and anemia can contribute to fatigue, cognitive challenges, and emotional instability. Infants born to anemic mothers are more likely to develop anemia themselves, which can lead to irritability and sleep difficulties. Athletes, on the other hand, may experience decreased performance, mood changes, and brain fog as their iron stores deplete due to intense training.

If you are experiencing any of these symptoms, let’s make sure we are doing a thorough check of your iron levels which may include the following tests: Complete Blood Count + Differential, Ferritin and possibly Iron/TIBC. Testing is easy and treatment can resolve symptoms within months.