Ice Cube Craving:

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One possible cause of this is iron deficiency.

Iron deficiency is when there is not enough iron in the body. Iron is an essential mineral that is needed to produce red blood cells; these are important for a healthy immune system, mental function, muscle strength, and energy; its main role is in red blood cells, where it helps make a protein called haemoglobin. Haemoglobin carries oxygen in the blood from the lungs to all the cells in the body to ensure they function correctly.

Your body can not make iron, so we need to get it from the food we eat. If you do not eat as much iron as you use each day, you develop iron deficiency.

Symptoms of Iron Deficiency:

If you have iron deficiency, you may not realize it, as you may feel tired and run down.

Low iron symptoms include:

• feeling tired, listless, and weak
• breathlessness
• poor memory and concentration
• poor performance at school or work
• getting infections
• finding it difficult to do aerobic exercise.
• fatigue (feeling very tired)
• behaviour problems in children
• decreased libido (sex drive)

Causes of Iron Deficiency:

There are three leading causes of iron deficiency.

1. Not eating enough iron-rich foods. Your body can store iron, but it cannot make it. Iron must come from food. Some people need more iron than others. The people who need the most iron are children, teenagers (especially girls), females who have periods, pregnant women, and breastfeeding women. Babies need breast milk or iron-fortified formula for the first year. Babies who have cow’s milk instead are more likely to get iron deficiency. People who follow vegetarian or vegan diets are also more at risk.
2. Trouble absorbing iron. Iron in food is absorbed through the stomach and bowel. Some health conditions, such as coeliac disease, affect how much iron is absorbed. If you’ve had stomach surgery, that can also affect how much iron you can absorb.
3. Blood loss. If you lose blood through bleeding, you lose iron too. The leading causes of excess blood loss are having heavy periods and bleeding in the stomach or bowel, which may be associated with taking medicines such as aspirin or other anti-inflammatory medicines, ulcers, bowel polyps, or cancer. Other causes can include giving blood too regularly, losing blood due to surgery, some gut conditions such as inflammatory bowel disease, and infection with parasites such as hookworms.

When to see a Health Professional:

• being extremely tired and weak
• being short of breath
• your heart beating fast and irregularly,
• being dizzy and light-headed
• headaches
• cold hands and feet
• sore or inflamed tongue
• brittle nails
• poor appetite
• being irritable
• having cravings for unusual things like ice, dirt, or starch

Diagnosis:

It is easily made via a blood test.

Treatment:

• Eat more foods high in iron, such as red meat and green leafy vegetables.
• Eat more foods containing vitamin C to help you absorb iron better.
• Consume fewer foods and drinks that stop you from absorbing iron, like calcium, fiber, tea, coffee, and wine,
• and take iron tablets or liquid iron supplements.
• Have an intravenous infusion of iron or (in extreme cases) a blood transfusion.