Why do we stereotype pregnant women as tired and dizzy? Why are pregnant women more likely to become anemic? What is hemoglobin and why should I care about having it checked during pregnancy? The answer may be “anemia.” I will discuss these questions and more in this three-part series on Anemia of Pregnancy.
Every cell in the body needs oxygen, which is delivered on the red blood cells. They contain a lot of iron, and oxygen sticks to iron like a magnet. The hemoglobin check is one way to measure the body’s oxygen delivery system.
During pregnancy, the body must make three to four quarts of extra blood to support the growing baby and protect the mother from hemorrhage after the birth. Almost a gallon of extra blood is created in the first 30 weeks of pregnancy! First the body adds more “water” to the blood to expand the volume of blood. Like adding water to a pot of chili thins out the soup, this extra fluid thins out the red blood cells. When the blood becomes thinner, there are fewer red blood cells per drop of blood. If it becomes too thin, the person has anemia.
Because the body naturally adds fluid to the blood before it starts filling it up with new red blood cells, a dip in hemoglobin in early to mid pregnancy is a good sign the blood volume is expanding as it should. This should be considered a normal condition that we want to see during pregnancy and not an illness that needs to be cured.
If the hemoglobin is checked, normal hemoglobin is around 11.0 to 13.0. Less than 10 indicates anemia, higher than 13.5 can indicate other problems. Symptoms of anemia include tiredness, exhaustion, dizziness or blacking out when standing up too quickly or for too long, paleness, and pale nail beds. The lower the hemoglobin goes, the worse the symptoms.
The best iron to support the body’s efforts in creating new red blood cells comes from organic iron sources. The word “organic” in this sense does not mean the food is stamped with a government-approved “organic” label! Organic means it comes from living organisms. It is living iron! The chlorophyll of plants contains this living iron. Plants are the best at taking the iron salts (ferrous iron) from the soil and changing them into living organic iron.
A chlorophyll molecule differs from a hemoglobin molecule by only one atom! When a person is eating plenty of dark leafy green vegetables or taking herbal supplements containing chlorophyll, the hemoglobin number rises in just a couple of weeks. This quick increase in hemoglobin cannot be explained by the weeks-long process of forming red blood cells from bone marrow. My theory is that the quick increase in hemoglobin using organic iron supplements is because the chlorophyll molecules are transformed into hemoglobin. I am not a scientist, but I bet the liver pops the magnesium atom off of the chlorophyll molecule and sticks on an iron atom in its place, quickly forming hemoglobin from chlorophyll!
Foods that raise the hemoglobin include:
- All the dark green vegetables like broccoli, green peppers and asparagus
- Leafy salad greens like romaine lettuce, spinach and kale
- Dried apricots (containing the most easily assimilated form of dietary iron!),
- Raisins, prunes, dried black cherries
- Sea vegetables,
- Molasses, especially black-strap molasses (careful, it is sweet!),
- Nutritional yeast - sprinkle on food (delicious on popcorn!)
- Egg yolks, and
- Organ meats like organic liver.
If the woman is already consuming these foods and is still anemic, she can supplement with concentrated herbal iron sources like:
- Alfalfa tablets or capsules - up to 2 or 3 with each meal. I think of these as a compressed salad!
- Liquid chlorophyll - Liquid chlorophyll comes in plain and spearmint flavored. I think the plain tastes like grass clippings pulled them fresh off the lawn mower blade! But some people prefer the plain to the spearmint. They both work great. Put a tablespoon in a glass of water once or twice a day.
- Chlor-Oxygen drops, follow the label for dosage because it is much more concentrated than regular liquid chlorophyll
- Nettles tea - high in iron and many other minerals, drink at least a cup a day
- Red Raspberry leaf tea - also high in minerals, good for pregnancy and all times of life
- Vitamin C - 500 mg per day, helps with iron assimilation
- Hemaplex capsules, 1 per day
- Floradix liquid iron, up to 2 teaspoons, twice a day
- Ferrofood from Standard Process, follow label instructions
- Homeopathic ferrum phos - a homeopathic cell salt that enhances iron absorption, once or twice a day
- Spirulina
- Chlorella
- Dandelion leaf (good for the liver, too), up to 3 capsules per day
- Yellow doc tincture - up to 3 dropperful three times per day (high in iron and supports the liver)
Hopefully this discussion has whet your appetite for iron rich foods! Come back next week to hear more you can do to boost hemoglobin levels in pregnancy using simple exercises!
Blessings!
:) Deborah
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