What effect does iron deficiency have on our bodies?

Effects of iron deficiency and intravenous iron on human cardiorespiratory physiology

Iron deficiency is very common, especially in chronic conditions like heart and lung disease. Research suggests that low iron levels make people feel ill even if they are otherwise healthy. For those with heart disease, low iron seems to have even more serious consequences. Life expectancy is shorter in heart failure patients with iron deficiency and treatments to increase patients’ iron levels improves their wellbeing even if they aren’t anaemic. However, we still don’t fully understand what effect iron deficiency has on our bodies. Professor Peter Robbins and his team from the University of Oxford are trying to work out how iron affects the heart, lungs and muscles. Iron is important for the systems that cells use to detect oxygen levels. The researchers believe that if there is not enough iron around, the body behaves as if oxygen levels are low. Over a prolonged period this is like living up a mountain at high altitude (where there is less oxygen), straining the body and the heart. The team will work out how low iron levels affect the way the body functions by studying people who have low iron but are otherwise healthy. They hope to find out if people with low iron differ from those with normal iron levels in two main ways - firstly, if they have exaggerated heart and lung responses to the stress of low oxygen conditions; and secondly, if their muscles work less efficiently during exercise and if they are more tired from exercise than those with normal oxygen levels.