The Spiral of Anemia
Iron deficiency isn’t a footnote. Iron is the foundational for the next generation’s health — or ill health.
When I look at my students
They are tired but still keeping up. They’ll say “I’m iron deficient,” “my hands and feet are freezing.” Whether their bloods have been checked or not, the physiology means the body is running in overdrive: tired, catching colds more easily, when at their age their health should be strong and resilient.
Mechanisms of blood flow and vasoconstriction
Iron deficiency doesn’t just trigger over-breathing; it changes the way blood vessels behave. Low hemoglobin means less oxygen is carried, so the body breathes harder and CO₂ falls. That drop in CO₂ causes local vasospasm in the skin — hands and feet clamp down and go cold — while at the same time the larger core, cerebral and coronary vessels tighten, leaving the core organs under-perfused. That’s different from simple over-breathing: the combination of low hemoglobin, CO₂ loss, and vascular spasm locks the body into a deeper spiral.
How common is it — especially in young women?
The official numbers underplay it. WHO says around 30% of women aged 15–49 are anemic globally, and about half of those cases are due to iron deficiency. In practice, that means 1 in 7 women worldwide is iron-deficient and anemic — and that’s just the ones who get teated and meet the lab cut-offs.
But if you include the women with depleted ferritin who haven’t yet tripped the “anemia” line, the prevalence climbs much higher. In many contexts it’s close to half of young women. And in disadvantaged populations, including First Nations communities, it’s been reported as up to 70%.
These aren’t marginal figures. This is the baseline of women’s health.
What I saw at the blood bank
When I worked at the blood bank, the pattern was unmistakable. Young women came in eager to donate, believing they were healthy. Yet when we checked their hemoglobin, many were already too low to give blood. This was before pregnancy, before breastfeeding, before any major health crisis — already at the starting line, they were iron deficient. That early depletion then sets up the whole spiral: breath rates rise, circulation shifts, absorption falls, and the next generation begins with less in reserve.
When the blood can’t carry oxygen properly, the body compensates by speeding up. Heart rate climbs, breathing rate climbs. Over-breathing then worsens gut perfusion, and iron absorption falls even further. That’s the first turn of the spiral.
Why tablets don’t fix it
Swallowing iron is not the same as absorbing iron. If circulation is low in the small intestine, absorption simply doesn’t happen — no matter how many tablets you take. Fixing iron deficiency means fixing breath rate, perfusion, and gut function at the same time.
Why women’s care matters
Women’s care is preventive care. Treating iron deficiency isn’t a side project — it decides whether the next generation grows with steady blood and steady breath, or staggers through childhood with asthma and anxiety.
But prevention doesn’t bill well. Medicine downgraded prevention, and downgraded women with it. It wasn’t always intentional, but it was arrogant: what women knew was treated as secondary; what doctors could charge for was made primary.
Modern healthcare reduces iron deficiency to a blood test and a prescription. In earlier systems of care, women had access to support that took into account their specific needs across life stages — pregnancy, childbirth, the postnatal period, and breastfeeding. These were times when women were especially vulnerable to iron loss, and they were cared for with attention to food, rest, and recovery. Western medicine sidelined many of those carers and practices, leaving gaps in how women are supported through these demanding phases.
What happens if we don’t
At the very least, if we keep ignoring this, we will have more asthmatic children. More anxiety and depression. More chronic ill health. More cancer. And every one of those conditions will become fodder for medicine’s money-making machine. The spiral of women’s depletion has become the business model of modern healthcare.
About the Author:
Catherine Broué works with the body as a whole system, focusing on breath and the nervous system. After two decades in ICU and dialysis, she turned to the deeper question of real health, guided by mentors and the insights of Christian Bohr and Konstantin Buteyko. Her work centres on the body’s true regulators — breath and the central nervous system — and the return to parasympathetic dominance.