Pale daughter

[louli]

I am very worried about my dd aged 8. She is vegan and over the past few months has become very pale, ghostly in fact. She has a day vitamin with 29%rda of iron and I have been giving her dried apricots. She will eat raw spinach with salad dressing, tofu, green beans and raw frozen peas. I am worried she may be seriously ill or something but in herself she seems quite well, lots of energy. She does stay up very late and on average gets about 10 hrs sleep a night I think she has been a bit run down and had a swollen throat recently. Any advice?? I may take her to the doctor on Monday in case they suggest a blood test. Her sisters have a similar diet but aren't as pale. Any advice?Thanks x

[Erin Pavlina]

Could be a vitamin deficiency.

I'd see about getting a complete blood chemistry workup.

I like to go to doctors for a diagnosis, but then I weigh the treatment options against all manner of options.

Good luck to you!!

[sophie]

It sounds like your daughter is eating good iron food, but for peace of mind i would definitely get blood tests done. Tell us how it goes and good luck.

[Casey]

I think an iron deficiency is the first thing everyone thinks of when someone has very pale skin - so you're right to go to the doctor and get a blood test to find out if that is the problem. It may be that your daughter is going through a growth spurt and/or has greater iron requirements than her sisters. Also it's recommended that iron intakes for veg*ns should be almost twice the RDA, because iron from plant sources is less easily absorbed by the body (have you read "Becoming Vegan"? It's an excellent book).

Because spinach is high in oxalates it's not actually a good source of iron, because the oxalates inhibit absorption - kale and even romaine (cos) lettuce would be more easily absorbed sources. Does your daughter eat lots of other iron rich foods, like lentils, chickpeas, kidney beans, nuts, seeds, whole grains, etc? Drinking a glass of OJ with her meals might help your daughter absorb more iron - if that turns out to be the problem, getting a blood test is still a good first step even if only to set your mind at ease.

[thecatspajamas18]

Make sure she takes an iron supplement, but DO NOT take it at the same time as a calcium supplement. Apparently, if they are present at the same time, neither will be absorbed correctly. I'm anemic as well, and I just learned this about iron.

[firegypsy]

There are lots of different kinds of anemia, and only one is caused by an iron deficiency. Absolutey get blood tests done. It's quite possible (if she's anemic at all) that it's easily corrected. It's better to know-then you can fix it.