Improve Your Brain Power

Lack of iron interferes with brain and behavioral function. In a 2007 American Journal of Clinical Nutrition study involving 113 women aged 18 to 35, women who were iron-deficient scored significantly worse on eight cognitive ability tests compared to women who had healthy iron levels. Those women who were diagnosed as anemic scored even worse than the iron-deficient group. Both the iron-deficient and anemic groups also took far longer to complete the tests. After completing four months of iron supplementation, all of these women scored just as well on the tests as the women who had good iron levels at the beginning of the study. Their speed at completing the tests also improved. The researchers concluded that iron status is a significant factor in cognitive performance in women. Your brain fog may simply be a result of low iron.

To determine your iron status, ask your doctor for two blood tests: serum ferritin and hemoglobin. A serum ferritin test will tell you how much iron is stored in your body; to prevent hair loss, your reading should be greater than 40 ng/mL. Hair regrowth starts upwards of 70 ng/mL. A hemoglobin test will indicate how much iron is found in your red blood cells to help carry oxygen to your cells. For hemoglobin, the average test range is 120-160 g/L for women and 140-180 g/L for men. Note that even low-normal iron levels can be a problem.

Women are more susceptible than men to low iron and iron-deficient anemia due to blood loss during their monthly cycles. Yet over 57 percent of women do not get adequate levels of iron from the diet. Women require up to 20 milligrams of iron daily from the diet, but most consume less than 10 mg per day and it is often poorly absorbed. A daily low-dose iron supplement is your solution. And if you are already facing a chronic iron deficiency situation, you will definitely need to supplement. Diet alone will not be enough to restore your iron stores to an optimal level. In one 2002 German study involving women with low ferritin (iron stores), supplementing with low-dose liquid iron (20 mg daily) and increasing intake of iron-rich foods was more than twice as effective at improving symptoms compared to diet alone. Ironsmart is my delicious (tastes like caramel candy), fast-working liquid iron with special technology that delivers the iron through the digestive system directly to where it is absorbed in the intestines. There is no stomach upset or constipation-just one to three teaspoons a day, depending on your needs, can help improve mental function and ward off other symptoms of low iron.