7 Surprising foods that may regain your lost blood during menstruation period

Ordinarily, adolescence and puberty are a time of intense physical and emotional change for young people between the ages of 10 and 17 respectively.

For females, this is a perfect time range to start experiencing menstruation till their menopause.

Simply, this is a periodic discharge of menses (blood, mucus, and cellular debris) from the uterine lining as a result of an unfertilized egg during the ovulatory period.

Unfortunately, this reproductive process within female lives results in much blood loss which is inevitable!

Amazingly, most women are expected to lose approximately 80ml of blood per single menstrual period, even though the amount of blood lost varies a lot from one person to another.

A great number of females keep wondering what should be eaten to recuperate their lost blood.

Luckily, there are foods with appropriate nutrients that may regain lost blood quickly and hence mitigate other further health problems.

On a balanced meal, you should include these foods in huge amounts for better outcomes in blood regaining during or after your periods.

1. Red Meat

During a single menstruation period, in 40ml of blood loss, there is also 1.6 mg of iron lost too. This implies that over 80 ml of blood loss would deplete iron and cause clinical anemia.

Red meats and other meat-related foods are proved as the richest source of Heme-iron or among animal source iron.

Including organ meats such as liver and kidney meat in your meal will significantly help to compensate the lost blood quickly. Other heme-iron foods to recover lost iron from the body are,

• Ground Beef
• Lamb
• Turkey
• Canned clam
• Pork
• Egg yolks
• Oysters
• Shellfish

It is very important to separate tea or coffee drinking from mealtimes. 

These drinks contain phytates that will inhibit iron absorption once consumed below 1–2 hours later.

Similarly, dairy products namely; cheese, cottage cheese, milk, and yogurt contain should not be consumed at mealtime for the sake of effective iron absorption.

2. Plenty of Beans

Different types of beans and other legumes such as peas and soybean may also be helpful in increasing blood counts.

Non-haem iron from these pulses is linked with effective red blood cells production.

Moreover, adding some fruits and vegetables that are rich in ascorbic acid or vitamin C such as citrus fruits to the diet will definitely enhance and speed-up iron absorption from that meal. 

3. Vitamin A rich foods

    Oranges  as one of the vitamin C rich fruits

Vitamin A consumption tends to diminish the potential risks of anemia. 

Specifically, this nutrient enhances the growth and differentiation of erythrocyte progenitor cells and mobilization of iron stores from the tissues.

Vitamin A can from plant-source foods are obtained in the form of carotenoids. 

Though, as animal sources, dairy products, eggs, fish oil, and liver could be also particularly rich sources of retinol. Vegans should try plant sources such as,

• Green leafy vegetables
• Orange or yellow fruits  
• Broccoli
• Orange potatoes
• carrots

 4. Poultry

To get enough vitamin B₁₂ or cobalamin you will certainly need to add poultry or any other animal source food to your meal.

Why do women and girls extremely need this vitamin during or post-menstruation?

Simply, Vitamin B-12 aids the body in the formation of new red blood cells to replace those which are lost in menses or died as their life span is about 120 days.

Other optional sources you should try to get vitamin B₁₂ and recover your blood count quickly are,

• Shellfish
• Organ meats
• Fish
• dairy products

 5. Spinach  

Spinaches like other green vegetables could also be helpful in making new red blood cells because of vitamin B₉ or folate within them.

As cobalamin, folate obtained also helps in the formation of red blood cells that carry out oxygen in all parts of body tissues. 

Folate deficiency during or after the menstruation period is associated with the production of abnormal red blood cells that are not specific to replace the lost ones. 

As a result, greater risks of anemia, tiredness or breathlessness, are commonly increased as well.

Then, it should be crucial to take plenty of the following food as folate natural and artificial source,

• Legumes
• Green leafy vegetables
• Whole grains
• Fruits
• Fruit juices such as oranges
• Fortified cereals
• Enriched bread. 

 6. Honey

Aside from its unbelievable sweet taste, honey is a potent source of iron, copper, and manganese. 

When these minerals are combined, they facilitate in hemoglobin synthesis and hence improve blood count. 

Honey is therefore a powerful weapon in recovering lost blood and eventually anemia.

However, no more than 2 tablespoons or 6 teaspoons of honey per day should be consumed for better health outcomes indeed. 

7. Beetroot juice

This is an iron-rich vegetable juice by which every individual suffering from depleted blood counts can drink as a tonic against fatigue and lethargy. 

It commonly occurs when your body makes too few RBCs, destroys too many RBCs, or loses too many RBCs. 

Recent nutritional textbooks suggest that 2 cups of this juice could be enough to help the body in repairing and reactivating red blood cells.

Apart from healthy blood cells, beetroots are also thought to lower blood pressure as well.

Bottom line

Losing blood for girls and women in menstruation is a normal reproductive process that is inevitable. 

They cannot stop it until either menopause or during pregnancy. 

However, as humans, we are what we eat, they should recuperate through effective nutrition. 

Some foods including, animal source foods, spinach, honey, beetroot, and other B-complex vitamin foods maybe your friends then.

On the other hand, some females may experience chronic overwhelming blood loss during the menstruation period that might eventually lead to clinical anemia. 

As a consequence, this usually results in a wide range of irreversible health problems and the blood loss cannot be recovered by home nutrition only.

Once this happens, you should undoubtedly visit health professionals for further medical care and supplements to save life earlier.

 

 

Sources

1. Fujiwara, T. et al. (2007) ‘Adverse Effects of Dietary Habits on Menstrual Disorders in Young Women’, pp. 24–30. 
2. Herbst, M. C. (2017) ‘Fact Sheet on the Implications of a Low White Blood Cell Count Cancer Association of South Africa ( CANSA ) Fact Sheet on the Implications of a Low White Blood Cell Count’, (September). doi: 10.13140/RG.2.2.10451.07206.
3. Soundarya, N. (2018) ‘A review on anaemia – types , causes , symptoms and their treatments .’, (May 2015).
4. Menorrhagia, T. (2004) ‘Quantification of menstrual blood loss’, pp. 88–92. doi: 10.1576/toag.6.2.88.26983.
5. Bernardi, L. A. et al. (2016) ‘The association between subjective assessment of menstrual bleeding and measures of iron deficiency anemia in premenopausal African-American women : a cross-sectional study’, BMC Women’s Health. BMC Women’s Health, pp. 1–7. doi: 10.1186/s12905-016-0329-z.
6. Schumacher, U. et al. (2012) ‘Estimation of menstrual blood loss volume based on menstrual diary and laboratory data’, (August). doi: 10.1186/1472-6874-12-24.