Anaemia & Blood Deficiency
Anaemia from a TCM perspective is blood deficiency. This usually results from blood loss eg with heavy menstrual bleeding, from a weak spleen or from a weakness in the kidneys. In TCM both these organs are integral in blood production; the spleen provides the nutrients absorbed from digestion needed to make blood and the kidneys provide the bone marrow which acts as the physical matrix for blood. As a result the approach to treating blood deficiency should always include strengthening the spleen as we already discussed in more detail here.
General blood deficiency signs include:
Pale lips, face, nail beds and tongue
Fatigue / sluggishness
Unusual hair loss, premature greying, thin, dry hair - in TCM the hair is said to be an extension of the blood and hence blood building foods and taking care of the spleen can also help to treat these hair conditions.
Trembling
Lower back pain
Dizziness / Headaches / ringing in the ears
Insomnia/sleep problems - different types are associated with different organs/ blood deficiencies (see more below)
Liver blood deficiency additional symptoms:
Painful, irregular or absent menstruation
Dry skin
Memory loss
Tendon/ ligament or muscle spasms or numbness especially in the arms or hands
Nervousness / nervous or edgy irritability
Spots/floaters in the visual field
Dry eyes and unclear vision
Insomnia - specifically difficulty falling asleep, feeling ‘wired’ at night
Points of note for ‘blood building’:
B12, iron and folic acid and adequate protein are all required in blood production.
Folic acid is destroyed in prolonged cooking so steaming is best for cooking eg. leafy greens.
In order to absorb iron you also need enough copper, but C and B vitamins in your diet too. So, eg putting some lemon ( high in vitamin C) onto your iron containing foods, eg meat - will help you better absorb the iron.
zinc and calcium block/prevent iron absorption so avoid eg dairy products (calcium containing) with meat (iron containing).
General blood building foods:
Nettles & Beetroot
Animal protein (good B12) - but be careful, as mentioned, often with blood deficiency the spleen is also affected, as we have spoken about before this means digestion is generally impaired. This is why bone broth is the specific preferred form of animal protein - you get all the ‘blood building’ benefit without having to put your digestive system through the difficulty of digesting dense protein like beef or pork.
Salmon is a good easy to digest animal protein that’s high in iron.
Grains - important blood tonics as generally contain a lot of iron and manganese which is beneficial to the formation of blood, and manganese may also itself transform into iron
Green vegetables - contain lots of folic acid, manganese and iron and also, lots of chlorophyll, which is a molecule that has the same chemical structure as Hemin (a pigment which forms haemoglobin - essential for red blood cells to carry oxygen) and so said to be beneficial for anaemia. Wheatgrass in particular is very high in chlorophyll.
Plant based protein generally - legumes, chickpeas etc are all good iron sources
Royal jelly (already discussed)
Mussels, oysters, clams - B12 rich
Algae (inc seaweed and micro-algae like spirulina/chlorella) which contain iron, folic acid and B12.
Sprouts - contain folic acid
Nuts and seeds - good source of iron
Nutritional yeast as it contains B12, note check the box - better as ‘primary yeast’ and when the yeast is grown in a B12 enriched medium
Extra foods to eat with liver blood deficiency are - Dark grapes, blackberries, raspberries
With anaemia avoid:
Stimulants such as coffee, alcohol & cigarettes especially if also have any liver blood deficiency signs
Lamb (it’s too heating energetically)
Cinnamon, cloves, chilli and other hot spices
Overeating generally