Here's how to fix low iron, a health risk exacerbated by COVID
“Beauty is an iron mine,” says Australian mining magnate Gina Reinhart. He talked about a valuable resource, but iron is also very important for living organisms: from bacteria and fungi, to mammals like us. Shutterstock Iron acts as a key to various metabolic functions in our body. But iron deficiency remains one of the top global health risks recognized by the World Health Organization (WHO). ADVERTISEMENT CONTINUE READING BELOW Iron deficiency has become the most common micronutrient disorder worldwide, and COVID may exacerbate the problem. Iron is hard to come by The type of iron we mine is different from the biologically usable “free form” iron. Free-form iron has a tendency to jump between two chemical states, allows it to bind to various molecules, and participates in all sorts of important reactions in our bodies. But we see a different story again during the digestion of food. In our upper small intestine where iron is most effectively absorbed, free form iron tends to bin