Tips to increase haemoglobin levels naturally

 

People who get to know from their blood reports that their haemoglobin levels are low often want to know what could be the reason and how to get the levels back to normal. 

Haemoglobin (Hb) is an iron-containing protein in blood cells that carries oxygen throughout the body. The normal level of haemoglobin in blood is 14-18 mg/dl for men and 12-16 mg/dl for women. 

The most common reason for low haemoglobin levels is nutritional deficiencies. Deficiency of iron, folic acid, vitamin C and Vitamin B12 causes low haemoglobin levels. But several reasons like blood loss, bone marrow defects, cancer, kidney problems, and use of certain drugs can also lower the levels. 

Depending on what caused your haemoglobin levels to lower, your doctor might prescribe you iron and vitamin supplements to improve the levels. But these supplements may take a longer time stabilize your haemoglobin, and you cannot take them forever. So, in the long run, these few dietary changes may help you to keep your haemoglobin levels healthy naturally. 

Ways to increase haemoglobin levels: 

• Low haemoglobin levels due to iron deficiency anaemia can be corrected by including iron rich sources in your diet. Leafy vegetables like spinach (palak) and fenugreek leaves (methi), beans and lentils like masoor daal, chole, moong daal, toor daal, urad daal, rajma. Asparagus (Shatwar) and sesame seeds (til) are other good sources of iron. Grains like barley (jav), rice, semolina (sooji), bajra and maize (makai) can also be included. You could use combination of any of these sources to cook delicious iron rich recipes. If not, munch on dried fruits such as almonds (badaam), dried peaches (anjeer) or raisins (manuka). If you’re a non-vegetarian, meat and fish are the best sources of iron for you. 

• Vitamin C rich foods helps the body to absorb iron from foods. Low haemoglobin levels due to deficiency of Vitamin C can be corrected by eating fruits like guava (peru/amrud), kiwi, papaya, oranges, strawberries and grapefruit. You can enjoy them together by making a delicious fruit salad or a mixed fruit juice. Vitamin C rich vegetables include capsicum (Shimla mirch), broccoli (hara phool gobi), cabbage (Gobi), tomatoes and spinach (palak). 

• If your haemoglobin count is low because your body is not producing sufficient red blood cells, then you could be deficient in folic acid, B complex vitamin that is required to make red blood cells. Sources of folic acid include lentils, dried beans, peas, Brussels sprouts (chota band gobi), banana, corn (makai), beets, pineapple and peanuts. (Note: If you are having more of Vitamin C sources then you’ll have to increase the intake of folic acid as well because Vitamin C causes excretion of folic acid from the body). 

• Another way is to add dried herbs to your diet which increase the absorption of iron. Especially, coriander (dhania), spearmint (pudina), basil (tulsi), chervil (chevil), dried parsley (sukhe ajamoda), bay leaf (tejpatta) may be helpful. 

• If you are deficient in iron you should avoid having calcium rich foods like milk and cheese. They block the absorption of iron. Don’t drink too much of coffee, tea and alcohol either. Foods containing gluten like pastas and wheat products also cause anaemia. 

• Sometimes, foods such as parsley (ajwain) that are rich in oxalic acid may also interfere with absorption of iron. Have them in limited quantities.

Courtesy: Health.india.com