The Oxygen Iron Deficiency Connection

February 21, 2023 by Robert

We have discussed oxygen deficiency and its role in many health-related problems and illnesses here. One thing we haven’t talked about is the role iron plays in oxygen deficiency.

There is a connection between the amount of iron a body has and the body’s ability to utilize oxygen effectively.

Iron deficiency anemia is the world’s most common single-nutrient deficiency. Iron is a mineral needed by our bodies. Iron is part of all cells and does many things in our bodies. One way it is used is as part of the protein hemoglobin which carries oxygen from our lungs throughout our bodies. Too little hemoglobin is called anemia. Iron also helps our muscles store and use oxygen.

— Sally Robinson and Keith Bly, M.D.

The following overview of the importance of oxygen and proper blood flow for the functioning of our brains suggests just one of the myriad health impacts a lowered level of oxygen can have on the body.

The brain is approximately 2.5% of the body mass on an average individual, yet it receives around 15% of the cardiac output and is responsible for around 25% of the body’s total oxygen consumption…

We know how important it is the constant delivery of oxygen to the brain to prevent tissue damage. Oxygen is not consumed equally throughout the brain, and the grey matter consumes most of it, as much as 94%, while the white matter consumes the rest, or as little as 6%.
Read more: Monday, April 8, 2013 – Autism – iron and oxygen deficiency at birth caused by early umbilical cord clamping

— Physiorenovo Health and Science

So we can see that oxygen is essential to the brain, but does an iron deficiency lead to oxygen deficiency? First, there is more than one type of anemia. There are five types of anemia, and only one is related to iron deficiency. I am not asking if “anemia causes oxygen deficiency.” In the following descriptions, the situations are where anemia is related to low hemoglobin in the blood or low blood volume and how that relates to oxygen deficiency.

O2 saturation only measures how well the oxygen is binding to (“saturating”) the heme in the red cells that are there. O2 sat would be normal (assuming no other problems) in an anemic person, even though they may be hypoxic at the tissue level due to reduced O2 delivery to tissues from reduced red cells.

There is a recent thread about this very thing with some great posts: AllNurses.com…

…this is a common scenario. your patient is severely anemic, but the hemoglobin that remains in her blood is fully saturated. that means that her blood is carrying all of the oxygen that it can carry. it does not mean that it is carrying a sufficient amount of oxygen to meet the patient’s demands. this patient’s pao2 is likely well below normal. Read more

— All Nurses.com

The bottom line is that iron deficiency impacts the ability of hemoglobin (red blood cells) to absorb oxygen. So ensuring you have adequate iron in your diet will eliminate one potential contributing factor to low blood oxygen saturation. Supplementing with liquid oxygen drops like OxygenSuperCharger™ could help.

“At the systemic level, iron deficiency reduces arterial oxygen content by restricting hemoglobin concentration, which, when severe, may result in global hypoxia (53). At the cellular level, iron deficiency restricts the ability of cells to utilize oxygen in oxidative phosphorylation… Iron and oxygen homeostasis are intimately intertwined, both at the cellular and at systemic levels. In the heart, an organ of high oxygen demand, local iron levels are important for oxygen utilization and energy production.” – NIH.gov

Summary