Question

Amanda is a 20-year old college student who is on the college tennis team. To stay lean and perform her best, she now only eats low-fat, nutrient-dense foods and is mostly vegetarian, although she still eats eggs and nonfat dairy. At the start of the year, Amanda was in the best physical condition of her life, but lately she’s noticed that she’s feeling fatigued and is having difficulty finding the energy for class every day and is experiencing shin splints that are inferring with tennis. She’s also looking pale, gets frequent headaches and is irritable. This may be because she’s having trouble sleeping lately. This winter has also been particularly cold, and Amanda can’t seem to warm up. She’s getting a bruise with every little bump and any little cut becomes infected and takes a long time to heal. Amanda suspects that because of her diet, she may need iron and begins taking a 60 mg iron supplement daily. Because she’s heard that vitamin C enhances iron absorption, she takes the supplement with her morning orange juice. She also tries to eat more iron-rich foods while maintaining her vegetarian diet. She loves spinach and eats it daily. Amanda quickly begins to feel better, but this doesn’t last long. After a month, her symptoms return, and additional symptoms develop. Amanda was constipated when she first began iron supplementation, but lately, she’s experiencing nausea and diarrhea. Question 1: When Amanda suspects that her iron is low, she immediately makes dietary changes. Explain the misconceptions she has about iron intake and absorption.

Answer 1

The miscoception Amanda has about iron intake and absorption is that: iron intake together with food reduces absorption of iron, but rather the tolerance level is increased.The capacity of the body to absorb the drugs becomes reduced.Hence, her intake of 60mg iron supplements daily becomes less effective on her because she uses orange supplement along side the drugs ,which render the drugs not effective on her thereby making her to experience more symptoms like nausea and diarrhea.