….and the Causes of Anemia

Anemia is generally thought to be caused due to a lack of iron, but it can be caused by a lack of other vitamins that affect iron regulation, or affect the red blood cells.

Regardless, the cacao in this recipe provides some plant based iron which is better regulated by your body than animal based iron!! Cacao is an excellent source of magnesium which helps you relax, sleep and prevents anxiety and muscle pain.

This smoothie bowl, if you eat half of the recipe, provides about 200% of your daily vitamin C needs. It also provides a small amount of iron and about 46 mg magnesium *

The vitamin C in the strawberries helps absorb iron in this recipe, and in the spinach or lentils you eat later in the day….if you doubt this read on below….hopefully while you are munching on this super simple 5 min recipe…if you are good and have tossed together some granola another day when you were doing your morning routine.

The cacao is not a requirement, but cacao nibs are high in magnesium and lacking the sugar that chocolate has. Cacao is also high in antioxidants. It is not a food that goes well in all smoothies, but this is one it does taste good in. A good way to use cacao nibs is to put

1 T cacao nibs
1/4 c walnuts
3 c strawberries
1 sprig mint leaves
2 leaves lemon balm
Water to blend (2-3 c)

Eat alone on place in a bowl topped with Mom’s granola for a full on, thiamine enriched meal. Remember, grains are high in thiamine, a necessary vitamin for energy metabolism. Meat and vegetables have little to no thiamine, with the exception of pork.

You may argue that the high level in the vitamin C in this smoothie can hardly make a difference in the amount of plant based iron that you absorbed. Shouldn’t you eat it at the same meal, like you do when you drink lime-aid with your spinach and bean blue corn tacos?

Well, to answer that question we must discuss gastrointestinal transit time. As you will see the assumption that both the vitamin C and iron must be in the stomach at the same time is a fallacy. First off, iron and vitamin C are absorbed in the intestine, not the stomach. So we must consider how long it takes for food to traverse the stomach to the intestine where the vitamin C will help convert the ferric iron in cacao to ferrous iron to increase absorption. (By the way, both kinds of iron can be absorbed, and your body prefers ferric iron because of the reactive and oxidative nature of ferrous iron, but that is a whole other long blog post).

Gastrointestinal emptying rate, or the time that the stomach (gastro) empties into the intestines (intestinal) is affected by a wide range of factors including gender, age, what you ate, health status, and even reproductive status. I would postulate that the health of your microbiome also affects this. So I cannot provide to you the exact rate it will take both this vitamin C rich meal and your next iron rich meal to reach your intestines without evaluating these factors.

But, in general it takes about 2-3 hours for a food to traverse your stomach and arrive in your intestine. Once in your intestine it can be there for up to 2 days…even 40 hours before leaving your colon (Source:http://www.vivo.colostate.edu/hbooks/pathphys/digestion/basics/transit.html). Therefore it appears prudent to say that both the vitamin C from breakfast and the iron intake from the lentils, spinach and myriad of other foods will make contact in your intestine.

Once in your intestine vitamin C helps liberate the iron so that it is more easily absorbed. A lack of sufficient vitamin C, even if you are consuming enough of iron containing foods can contribute to anemia.

There are many other vitamins that can be deficient as the cause of Anemia, ie:

Riboflavin

Vitamin A

Vitamin C

Vitamin E

Vitamin D

Therefore do not let your doctor prescribe you iron supplements unless they test all these other vitamins to find the TRUE CAUSE OF ANEMIA.

You do not need vitamins for anemia, you need to have a varied diet……

Foods you can eat to improve anemia:

Riboflavin
Almonds, green peas, cultured cabbage, cooked artichokes, asparagus, taro, pumpkin, dandelion greens, soybean sprouts, sweet potatoes, and whole grains like amaranth, wild rice, buckwheat, millet, and quinoa

Vitamin A
Mamey, cantelope, watermelon, summer squash, zuchinni, butternut squash, sweet potato, winter squash, pumpkin

Vitamin C
Oranges, potatoes, lemons, limes, red peppers, guava, hibiscus or rose tea (if you choose the tea option, you also need one other food from this category)

Vitamin E
Almonds, hazelnuts, olive oil, sunflower seeds
If you choose to cook and consume only extra virgin olive oil this can improve your vitamin E status

Vitamin D
Sockeye and canned salmon have enough vitamin D where you could eat them every other day. Invertebrates like scallops, oysters, mussels, and squid are also good options. Mushrooms, especially if they are mushrooms you have purchased and place in the sunlight for a day are good daily foods. Try a mushroom and potato taco for breakfast along side some papaya.

*Using the conversion units that 1 T of cacao nibs weights 9.3 g, and there is about 500 mg of magnesium in 100 g of cacao (approximately, rounded numbers), this means that this recipe provides 46 mg of magnesium. (source: Google: magnesium in cacao)