Diet advice for anemic patient

What diet should be advice for a patient who is anemic and is underweight
(October 26, 2010)

Diet For Anemic & Underweight Patient

Anemia is a rather common condition that is characterized by a significant lack of enough red blood cells or when the blood does not have enough hemoglobin, which is an oxygen carrying pigment that is found within the red blood cells. While a number of people suffer from mild to prominent versions of the condition, if untreated and allowed to spiral out of control, the condition could easily be life threatening. While the most common cause of the condition is known to be an inadequate diet while some of the other common conditions include some kind of chronic disease, bleeding disorders, infections, hereditary conditions as well as alcoholism. Because of the fact that anemia is influenced by so many different factors, there are a variety of anemia types that affect the body. Iron deficiency based anemia – for instance is triggered by a lack of iron in the blood stream.


However, simply labeling the condition as iron deficiency anemia does nothing to help a person to identify the root cause of the deficiency. For instance, the deficiency could come from loss of blood as easily as it could arise from the problem of poor absorption from the diet. The other common type of anemia is known as vitamin B12 anemia and is commonly caused by the failure of the lining in the stomach to be able to produce a chemical known as intrinsic factor.

Another possible cause of this type of anemia is the removal of the small intestine – which is where vitamin B12 is commonly absorbed. Individuals that consume a purely vegan diet that excludes any kind of dairy products, eggs and meat or fish are also known to common suffer from this condition.

Some of the more common symptoms that are likely to become prominent when a person is suffering from anemia include a noticeable paleness, tiredness, weakness and weight loss in addition to some substantial chest pain.

Because of the fact that the condition is heavily linked to the deficiency of certain substances that can be attained by a healthier and more nutritious anemia treatment diet, it highly recommended that the patient start religiously following one of the many anemia diet plans that can be sourced from the internet or your local health book store.

One factor that almost every anemia diet is based on is the fact that the deficiency of iron in the diet will prevent the formation of heme as well as the hemoglobin and, as a result, a high intake of iron is probably the most obvious change one has to make to his or her diet plan. Some of the best sources of anemia nutrition include clams, pork, oysters and beef liver. However, it is important to remember that a pregnant woman should not consume liver at any rate as it is high in vitamin A content that can prove to be harmful to the baby. A diet for anemic patient also calls for the affected individual to consume foods that are high in vitamin B12 content such as cheese, milk, egg and pork.

Try to gain weight gradually. Follow the following dietary tips to gain weight and correct anemia.

• Have small frequent meals in a day instead of two large meals.
  
• Include calorie dense foods in the diet like milkshakes, sprouts, whole cereals, pulses, milk and milk products.
  
• In fruits you can emphasize on bananas, sapota, custard apple, mango and grapes. Also include dried fruits like dried figs, raisins and nuts like cashew nuts, almonds, pitchouts and roasted ground nuts.  
  
• Have 3-4 pieces of black dates daily.
  
• For iron include dark green leafy vegetables, broccoli, asparagus, peas, rice flakes, fish, organ meats like liver, kidney, lean meat, chicken and eggs in the diet.
  
• Consult a specialist to know the kind of anemia, as the supplements which he prescribes would also be helpful to correct the deficiency.