Ice Chewing, Anemia & Iron Deficiencies

Pica is the craving to chew or to eat something that has no nutritional value. Craving a non-nutritional substance is often related to a nutritional deficiency.

Pica is seen more frequently in children, but ice chewing is an addiction that can be found at any age.

For reasons that are not well understood, frequent ice chewing, may be a symptom of an iron deficiency or of anemia.

This can be classified as pagophagia, or the addiction to chewing ice. Yes, there is actually a name for it. If you have pagophagia, it may also be caused by an obsessive, compulsive disorder.

The lack of treatment of anemia, can cause chronic fatigue, shortness of breath, dizziness, a fast or irregular heartbeat and eventually can result in heart damage.

Problems Associated With Frequent Ice Chewing:

The side effects are not nearly as dangerous as many other addictions. The major problem is damage to your tooth enamel, which can lead to a number of dental issues.

If you have amalgam fillings, which contain mercury, ice chewing can accelerate the release of mercury into your body.

What Blood Tests Should Be Performed?

If you crave ice chewing, it is important to find out if you are anemic, or if you are iron deficient.

Having excess iron in your body can be even worse than being deficient.

The most common causes of anemia are:

1. Blood loss

2. Impaired blood cell production

3. The over destruction of blood cells

In each situation, it is important to not only diagnose anemia, but also to find the cause of the anemia.

Checking for iron deficiencies or excesses, can be done with a serum ferritin blood test. It measures the molecule in your blood that carries iron. If your ferritin levels are low, then your iron levels may also be low. A healthy range for serum ferritin is between about 20 to 80 nanograms per milliliter (ng/ml).

The dangers of iron overload are serious and can be potentially life threatening.

Other testing that may be important in the diagnosis of an iron deficiency or excess, besides serum ferritin, are:

1. A complete metabolic panel with lipids

2. A Complete Blood Count (CBC)

3. Total Iron Binding Capacity (TIBC)

4. Vitamin B12

5. Folate

6. Vitamin D 25-hydroxy

The link below suggests a number of foods that have high levels of natural iron. If you do want to take an iron supplement, I always recommend one that is derived from food. This will reduce the chances of constipation, which is a common side effect from taking synthetic iron supplements.

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