Iron helps transport oxygen around your body, it helps fight infection through the immune system, and it is used in producing energy within the body.
How is iron used in the body?
- The haemoglobin in our blood has iron bound to it. The iron attracts the oxygen to the haemoglobin that carries it around our body. If our body lacks iron, less oxygen is supplied to our body, which can make it harder to concentrate, remember and learn, and may cause tiredness and irritability.
- Iron is used within the immune system. The exact function and mechanism is not known but it is clear that iron deficiency can make a person more susceptible to infection.
- The body uses iron-containing enzyme in the production of energy.
Source: Queensland Health
Image By jon Sullivan [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons
