Blood and Water, Iron and Copper - Part 3

A holistic approach to Iron deficiency

In Part 1 of this little series on iron deficiency, we explored how it’s common when you are prone to iron deficiency to also be prone to anxiety, to be highly sensitive, have an aversion to conflict and find speaking up difficult. We found understanding the nature of iron can tell us why, and how we can support our iron replenishment holistically (if you haven’t read Part 1, I recommend heading over here first to get the most from this part). In our body, Iron has alot to do with how grounded, warm, embodied and confident we feel. In Part 2 we explored remedies from this understanding of iron.

You are probably reading this because, despite all your efforts to increase your iron, low iron levels persist. If you have a period, you may have been told that low iron is just going to be a reality while you have your period. You may even have been prescribed the pill to stop your period to try to increase your iron stores.

Today let’s take a look at this tendency for women to be iron deficient, more so than men, and how this relates the interesting polarity between Iron and Copper. The more deeply we understand nature, the more we understand ourselves and our tendency to iron deficiency.

Beginning with archetypes

Archetypes help us to understand something more deeply through contrast, by placing something beside a polar characteristic and making a comparison. I am going to use the archetypes of male and female, woman and man, feminine and masculine here, and it’s really important to say that these are not definitives. Not all people with a uterus identify as a woman or feminine. And not all women have a uterus, a period or carry children. Not all people live in a defined polarity of woman and man but are fluid between a spectrum of experience and identity.

I’ll use these archetypes here so we can understand the extremes, then of course we’ll come back to you as an individual. You can use this to think about your experience of iron deficiency, to understand more about yourself and how it relates to you as an individual wherever you identify in the spectrum of human beings.

Understanding the patterns

Iron deficiency is common, and it’s especially common for women and folks with a period. The central group of people affected by iron deficiency are firstly menstruating people, then children, and elderly people.

Most commonly, males have much higher iron stores and iron in their blood than females do. When testing your iron stores (your ferritin), the reference ranges are different to accommodate this tenancy. For menstruating females, you’ll notice on your blood tests that the reference range is around 15-200 µg/L, and for men, it is around 30-300µg/L.

When it comes to iron from food, the recommended daily intake for men from middle childhood through their whole adult life is 8mg daily. For women from middle childhood it is 15mg of iron daily, from 19-50 years old it’s 18mg of iron daily, and during pregnancy, it’s 27mg of iron daily!

The daily iron requirements are around 80% higher for women, and 20% of Australian women don’t reach these daily requirements compared with 3% of men. It is young women between the ages of 14 and 18 years old that get the least iron in their diets, 40% of this age group don’t reach their daily iron needs. We also know that women are more commonly vegetarian or vegan in Australia, especially in this age group when periods are beginning.

Typically, iron intake and needs remain relatively stable for men across the span of their lives. Women tend to lower levels of iron in their bodies, and iron needs change throughout life, during phases of menstruation, pregnancy, breastfeeding and menopause.

Iron and your period

Interestingly before puberty, there is no real difference in red blood cells or iron storage between children. The change begins in puberty, where reproductive transformation stands out alongside a great amount of personal growth for young people. Perhaps it was around this time that iron deficiency began for you?

Then, on the other side of puberty after menopause, the second hormonal transformation, women are liberated in a sense from reproductive life as it was, and again after a little time there is generally no real difference in red blood cells or iron storage between older men and women. Just as in childhood.

Understandably, this has led to the conclusion that periods are the main cause of lower levels of iron and iron deficiency. Menstruation begins during puberty and each monthly period a certain amount of iron is released with bleeding. This is why the pill is sometimes prescribed to women to address iron deficiency, heavy periods or not. The thinking is if we stop ovulation and induce a type of menopause, there will be no monthly loss of iron.

Periods are different, from one body to the next. Many menstruating people don’t bleed at all and still experience iron deficiency, without other factors that affect iron. I see a diverse range of people with low iron in my clinic, and my question became; what if lower iron in menstruating people was not because of periods. Is it something to do with the deeper nature of iron and an important part of our reproductive constitution? Is lower iron something that is intrinsically linked with our reproductive life in this time?

In Part 1 we spoke about the Earth’s iron magma core and gravitational pull. We also spoke about mammals of the Earth and creatures of the sea. How as people on the Earth we are affected by gravity more so than our buoyant sea friends, who interestingly have a lesser concentration of iron in their blood than us standing on the earth.

Let’s bring to mind an archetypal male and female, and why this iron difference may exist.

The archetypal male’s reproductive organs, his penis and testes, are on the outside of his body. Of course, his prostate gland and seminal vesicles are within his pelvic bowl, but predominantly his reproductive organs are on the outside of his body, more influenced by the forces of gravity and exposed to the elements. They’re in contact with air, light and the temperature outside.

The archetypal female has her reproductive organs, her uterus and ovaries, suspended inside her body, in a body of fluid like the sea. Her pelvic bowl houses her reproductive organs, surrounded by warmth. Her organs are buoyant, protected from the outside world and elements, the temperature is carefully regulated from within, and they’re more liberated from the pull of gravity. She has the potential to hold a child in this protected space, this incredible midway point, between being a dream and touching the earth. They spend 9 months in this fluid space before feeling the elements, and gravity in its fullness.

These classical reproductive differences in the archetypal male and female remind me of the differences in iron between creatures on the land and creatures in the sea. Perhaps this expression of the archetypal female, makes her less earth bound, less iron dominant, and more buoyant and fluid in nature. The bodily change in iron between males and females is catalysed in puberty, right at this point when reproductive development is in its great transformation. Perhaps this is also a defining moment in our relationship with iron and the earth.

Iron and Copper

In Part 1 we talked about other archetypes. How stereotypically, men are associated with Mars the Roman god of war and the planet. Mars is symbolic of the masculine, yang, action, conflict, will and drive, as well as the mineral Iron and the gall bladder. And stereotypically, women are associated with Venus, the Roman goddess, symbolic of the feminine, yin, receptivity, fertility and love, as well as the mineral Copper and the kidneys.

Iron and Copper share an interesting relationship as minerals in nature, and also in our body. Their physical characteristics and interactions have been studied extensively, and their polarity in this symbolic sense is interesting when we think of iron deficiency more commonly affecting menstruating people.

Iron and Copper are both molecules that have two electrons in their outer ring (2+) which means they compete for bonds and transport in the body. This is why we recommend taking your iron supplement away from other 2+ minerals like zinc and copper, to give your iron the best chance to be absorbed.

When one is elevated in the body, the other is low, and vice-versa. In my clinic it's not uncommon to see when someone’s iron levels are low, their copper levels are elevated, and the other way round. Interestingly, children naturally have much higher levels of copper in childhood, as do pregnant people (perhaps channelling that archetypal language of Venus).

In your blood oxygen is transported through your body via haemoglobin, a protein that has an iron centre. When bound with oxygen it is red like mars. In invertebrates like octopus and jellyfish, this protein is haemocyanin which has a copper centre, and when bound with oxygen appears blue.

In terms of remedies, Iron symbolises the day, and Copper the night. Iron supports embodiment, grounding and waking up fresh and clear in the morning. Copper supports breathing out, relaxation, receptivity and sleep. To sleep deeply through the night, able to let go of the day.

Finding yourself, finding the balance

Iron and Copper represent polar processes, and they mirror the reproductive polarities of the archetypal male and female; earth and sea, gravity and weightlessness, breathing in and breathing out, waking and sleeping, activity and receptivity. They offer us a deeper perspective to look at our own health. Where do you sit in this spectrum, with iron and copper, with your sleep, with your energy during the day?

Learning about these symbols and archetypes, and the nature of things lends us more food for thought as to why it is more common for menstruating people to be lower in iron, than people without a cycle, beyond it simply being a downside of having a period. Or even, a fault of nature.

Copper and Iron are essential nutrients for your body, and their balance influences how you feel, and how you feel influences the balance. Having a period doesn’t mean you’re destined for iron deficiency, or that you should live with it. Iron deficiency is a swing to the depleted, and we all need iron to feel grounded, to have energy and motivation. Perhaps though, healthy iron levels in a lower threshold are symbolic. A symbol that in this phase of your life you’re particularly connected with cycles, fertility, receptivity, perception and creative conception. That you can be both of the earth and the stars, and you’re finding your place within the two. Finding your relationship with Iron and the Earth, and with Copper and the Cosmos.

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Sarah x

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