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Iron Deficiency And Its Effects

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Researches done in the past have showed that iron deficiency can cause physiologic, morphologic, and biochemical changes in the orangs affected by it before there is a change in hematocrit (Beard JL, 2001).
Iron is an essential micronutrient that is needed by the body because it is required for several neurological metabolic processes such as: myelination, cytokinesis, electron transport, antioxidant enzyme activity, and biogenic metabolism (Hyman, 2012).

Iron also plays an important role in the developing central nervous system of an infant due to the fact that iron participates in a wide variety of cellular function and is essential for normal neural development and physiology (Hyman, 2012). Thus, iron deficiency during an infant’s neurological development is a critical point because it can significantly impact a variety of behavioral and cognitive function.

The part of the brain that is affected by iron depletion is the deep cerebral nuclei, substantia nigra, and basal ganglia (Hyman, 2012). These three parts of the brain are the ones that have the highest concentration of iron in an adult’s brain and they are involved in the coordination and motor control of the body (Lozoff B, 2011). An iron deficient adult also shows a decrease in dopamine neurotransmission, which relates to the motor control (Lozoff B, 2011). In addition, dopamine also plays a role in the prefrontal-striatal system, which is involved in selective memory, spatial, and working memory (Lozoff B,

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