The body absorbs two to three times more iron from animal sources than from plants. Iron deficiency is one of the most common nutritional deficiencies and the leading cause of anemia in the United States. Symptoms appear only when iron deficiency has progressed to iron deficiency anemia, a condition in which the body's iron stores are so low that not enough normal red blood cells can be made to carry oxygen efficiently.
If the body doesn't absorb its needed amount of iron, it becomes iron deficient. Then, it picks up carbon dioxide and drives it back to the lungs where it's exhaled. It picks up oxygen in the lungs, drives it through the bloodstream and drops it off in tissues including the skin and muscles. Iron is needed to make hemoglobin, a part of red blood cells that acts like a taxicab for oxygen and carbon dioxide. You may pump iron at the gym a few times a week, but your body pumps it continuously through the bloodstream every day.
