What is Anaemia?

Anaemia is when your blood doesn’t contain enough haemoglobin. This is what carries oxygen around the body and removes carbon dioxide. Anaemia means insufficient amounts of oxygen is reaching your body’s tissues and organs.

About the Anaemia test

There is a wide range of reasons why your haemoglobin might be low (Anaemia), this test will test the three most common causes:

• Iron deficiency
• Vitamin B12 Deficiency
• Folate Deficiency

If you do have Anaemia this test will indicate which one of these deficiencies you have. If your result comes out saying you have Anaemia but none of the deficiencies above, you should speak to your GP, Anaemia can be caused by a number of factors, this test only looks at the main ones.

How does Anaemia affect me?

Having low levels of haemoglobin (Anaemia) can result in you feeling tired, breathless, lacking in energy, faint, looking pale, having headaches, a loss of appetite and weight loss.

What does the Anaemia test actually measure?

• Haemoglobin levels – a measure of how much haemoglobin is in your blood carrying oxygen to your tissues and organs.
• Ferritin levels – this is a protein in your body that stores iron, low ferritin levels can indicate and iron deficiency.
• Transferrin saturation – This is another protein, it transports iron around the body. Low transferrin saturation can suggest that there isn’t enough iron to carry, indicating that you may have an iron deficiency.
• Active vitamin B12 –  low levels would indicate a vitamin B12 deficiency, this can cause the body to produce abnormally large red blood cells that cannot function properly.
• Folate levels – Folate is a b-vitamin that is naturally present in many foods. Your body needs folate to make DNA and other genetic material. Your body also needs folate for your cells to divide.

What if I have Anaemia?

If you do have Anaemia, the first thing you need to do is book an appointment with your GP.

Iron deficiency anaemia

If you get diagnosed with Anaemia due to an iron deficiency, your GP will likely recommend that you take iron tablets for around 6 months.

Vitamin b12 deficiency

If you get diagnosed with Anaemia due to a vitamin 12 deficiency, most cases can be easily treated with injections or tablets. At first injections are usually given, then depending on whether your deficiency is diet related, you’ll usually have to take tablets or injections between meals. Vitamin B12 is found in meat, fish, eggs, dairy products, yeast extract and specially fortified foods.

Folate deficiency

If you get diagnosed with Anaemia due to a folate deficiency, you’ll be prescribed Folic tablets to restore your folate levels, these are usually taken over a period of four months. The best sources of folate include green vegetables, such as broccoli, brussels sprouts and peas.