Anaemia means the blood carries less oxygen than it should, usually because iron is low. Tiredness, breathlessness and hair fall follow. Haemoglobin can still read normal while iron stores are already depleted, which is why ferritin is the more useful test.
Symptoms of anaemia
Symptoms vary, and few people have all of them. These are the ones most commonly reported.
2-minute check
Could low iron explain how you feel?
Four questions. Your result appears immediately — we do not ask for an email.
How is your energy?
Do you get breathless on stairs?
Any hair fall or brittle nails?
Heavy periods, or any other regular blood loss?
Your answers do not strongly suggest anaemia
Fatigue has many causes. Thyroid, vitamin D and B12 are worth considering alongside.
Your answers are consistent with low iron
A full blood count with ferritin is inexpensive and settles it definitively.
Your answers fit an iron deficiency pattern closely
This is not a diagnosis. Ask for ferritin as well as haemoglobin — the first can be low while the second reads normal.
This check is an indication, not a diagnosis. It does not replace medical advice.
When to see a doctor
Arrange a medical appointment rather than waiting if you have:
- Blood in the stool, or black stools
- Heavy periods that soak through protection hourly
- Breathlessness at rest, or chest pain
- Anaemia in a man, or a woman past menopause — the cause must be found
What causes anaemia
Iron is needed to build haemoglobin. Stores deplete long before the blood count changes, which is why symptoms often precede an abnormal report.
Through low intake, poor absorption or ongoing loss.
The store marker falls while haemoglobin still reads normal.
Fewer and smaller red cells are made.
Producing fatigue, breathlessness, hair fall and poor concentration.
Risk factors
- Heavy or prolonged periods
- Pregnancy
- A vegetarian or vegan diet without attention to iron
- Frequent tea or coffee with meals, which blocks absorption
- Coeliac disease or other absorption problems
- Long-term use of acid-suppressing medication
- Recent or ongoing blood loss
How anaemia is diagnosed
| Test | What it indicates |
|---|---|
| Complete blood count | Haemoglobin, cell size and cell count |
| Serum ferritin | Iron stores — falls before haemoglobin does |
| Transferrin saturation | How much iron is actually available |
| Vitamin B12 and folate | Other causes of anaemia entirely |
| CRP | Inflammation can falsely raise ferritin |
| Thyroid function | Overlapping symptoms, and thyroid affects absorption |
| Coeliac screen | Where absorption is in question |
Not sure which of these you have had?The assessment asks, and tells you which are worth requesting.
Check my health parametersWhat happens if it is left untreated
Stated factually, because these risks are real and manageable rather than inevitable.
- Persistent fatigue and reduced capacity for work
- Complications in pregnancy, including low birth weight
- Worsening of existing heart conditions
- Impaired concentration and memory
- Reduced immunity
- Hair loss that does not recover until iron does
How Health Total treats anaemia
Our protocol runs alongside whatever your doctor has prescribed. We do not ask anyone to stop medication.
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1
Test ferritin, not just haemoglobin
A normal haemoglobin with low ferritin is extremely common and is usually where the answer is.
-
2
Find the cause before treating the number
Anaemia in a man or a post-menopausal woman needs the source of loss identified, not just iron added.
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3
Change absorption, not only intake
Vitamin C alongside iron helps substantially; tea and coffee with meals block it. This alone changes outcomes.
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4
Use food and supplementation together
Where supplementation is needed it is timed to avoid the things that block it.
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5
Re-test after a defined interval
Stores take months to rebuild. Stopping when symptoms improve is the usual reason it recurs.
What makes this different
A standard diet plan
- Haemoglobin alone
- Iron tablets with no timing guidance
- No search for the cause of loss
- Stopping when the tiredness lifts
How we do it
- Ferritin, transferrin and B12 together
- Timed away from tea, paired with vitamin C
- The source of ongoing loss identified
- Re-tested until stores are rebuilt
Nine questions. Two minutes.You will see your result before we ask for your name.
Start my free assessmentAudited results
Publication pending. Aggregate outcome figures for this condition — sample size, inclusion criteria, mean and median change, range and dropout rate — will appear here once the audited outcome report is complete and signed by a second clinician.
Under the ASCI Healthcare Guidelines, a success rate, timeline or efficacy claim requires peer-reviewed data or the organisation’s own audited outcome report. We would rather publish nothing here than publish a number we cannot substantiate.
Case studies
De-identified clinical records — the plan as delivered, the markers as measured, and adherence as it actually was. Each signed by the supervising clinician and verified by a second.
Case file 1
Awaiting the case production line — dependency D6.
Case file 2
Awaiting the case production line — dependency D6.
Case file 3
Awaiting the case production line — dependency D6.
The standard each case must meet before publication →
Published with specific, informed and withdrawable consent. Individual results vary.
Why Health Total for anaemia
Clinicians, named
Over 200 doctors and nutritionists. Every condition page here carries the name and credentials of the person who wrote it and the person who reviewed it.
Indian food, Indian bodies
Thirty years of treating Indian patients, with plans built from Indian kitchens and read against Asia-Pacific metabolic cut-offs.
Our own data
Outcomes come from audited internal records, not from studies conducted elsewhere on other populations.
Somewhere to walk in
Physical centres across India, which most app-based programmes cannot offer.
Recipes for anaemia
Palak and lemon dal
The lemon at the end is not a garnish. It is what makes the iron usable.
See the recipe →Overnight soaked figs and prunes
The most reliable thing we recommend for constipation, and the one instruction people skip.
See the recipe →Iron and vitamin C pairings
Absorption, not intake. Moving your chai an hour often matters more than eating more iron.
See the recipe →Articles
Eight numbers worth understanding on your blood report
Most reports get read for what is flagged. The useful information is often elsewhere.
Read →Iron deficiency starts long before anaemia
A normal haemoglobin does not mean your iron is fine.
Read →Nutrition before and during early pregnancy
The groundwork happens in the months before the test is positive.
Read →Hair fall: the causes worth testing for
What you are seeing today started three months ago.
Read →Questions we are asked
My haemoglobin is normal, so why do I feel tired?
Because haemoglobin is the last thing to fall. Iron stores deplete first, and ferritin will show that months before a blood count becomes abnormal. Ask for ferritin specifically.
Does drinking tea really affect iron?
Yes, substantially. The tannins in tea and coffee bind iron and reduce absorption considerably when taken with or soon after a meal. Moving chai an hour away from meals is one of the most effective single changes.
Can I fix this without tablets?
Sometimes, if the deficiency is mild and the cause is addressed. Where stores are significantly depleted, food alone is usually too slow, and your doctor may recommend supplementation.
Is anaemia in men different?
It is treated more urgently, because there is no routine monthly loss to explain it. The cause needs to be found rather than the number simply corrected.
Start with your own numbers.Free assessment, free first consultation, and no figure quoted that we cannot substantiate.
Start my free assessmentReferences
- WHO. Haemoglobin concentrations for the diagnosis of anaemia and assessment of severity.
- Indian Council of Medical Research. Anaemia Mukt Bharat operational guidelines.
- [Further references to be completed by the medical review panel.]