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Pernicious Anaemia
Red Blood Cells need three essential ingredients to perform their main function – the transporting of oxygen around the body. These three ingredients are:
- Folate – also known as Folic Acid which is a B vitamin – Vitamin B9. Folate takes its name from the Latin Folium which means leaf so it should come as no surprise that it is found in leafy vegetables and peas and dried beans. Marmite and Vegemite also contain high concentrations of Folate as do most breakfast cereals. Folic Acid is added to bread in several countries.
- The second essential ingredient for healthy red blood cells is Iron. This is found in Red Meat, Fish, Poultry, Lentils, Beans, Black-eyed Peas and in Beefy Drinks such as Bovril.
- The third essential ingredient needed for healthy red blood cells is Cobalamin or Vitamin B12. This is structurally the most complex vitamin (C H88CoN14O14P), and is found naturally in Meat, Fish and Dairy products including Milk, Butter and Eggs. Strict Vegans who eat no animal products are therefore at risk of developing B12 deficiency especially if they only eat washed vegetables (there is some Vitamin B12 in soil).
B12 is extracted from these various foodstuffs in a very complex biochemical process. The B12 enters the stomach bound to proteins found in saliva. Gastric Parietal Cells release a special protein called Intrinsic Factor. The Intrinsic Factor binds itself to the B12 and this partnership (IF/B12) is then absorbed by the Ileum which is part of the stomach found in the small bowel. The B12 then plays its part in forming healthy RBC’s.
The absorption of B12 is, then, dependent on the Gastric Parietal Cells working correctly to produce the Intrinsic Factor. Without the Intrinsic Factor the B12 cannot be absorbed by the stomach. And so it may come as a surprise to discover that Pernicious Anaemia is not caused by a malfunction of blood but by a faulty digestive process. If the gastric parietal cells do not produce the Intrinsic Factor then the B12 cannot be absorbed and the Red Blood Cells will not be able to do their job properly. This is why some people who have undergone serious stomach surgery will develop Pernicious Anaemia.
However, the number of people suffering from Pernicious Anaemia because the parietal cells do not produce Intrinsic Factor is a very small percentage of people who have the condition. This is because most sufferers of Pernicious Anaemia have a correctly functioning digestive system that produces the Intrinsic Factor necessary to bind with the B12 that can then go on to being absorbed into the blood supply. The problem faced by patients of Pernicious Anaemia is that as well as producing the needed Intrinsic Factor, somehow, and for an unknown reason, they also produce something that ‘kills off’ the Intrinsic Factor. These people produce something called Intrinsic Factor Antibodies that destroy the Intrinsic Factor that they have produced. This is why one of the tests used to diagnose Pernicious Anaemia is the test for Intrinsic Factor Antibodies – the Intrinsic Factor Antibody Test. If a patient tests positive for the antibodies then he or she is diagnosed as having Pernicious Anaemia.
Doctors do not know why some people produce antibodies that kill off the Intrinsic Factor. Pernicious Anaemia is not the only condition where this self-destruction of essential body functions takes place. Doctors classify medical conditions where this self-destruction happens as Auto-Immune Diseases. Pernicious Anaemia is just one Auto Immune condition. Others include Type One Diabetes, Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis, Multiple Sclerosis, Coeliac Disease, and Crohn’s Disease among others.
The Pernicious Anaemia Society does not currently recieve any government funding. If you have found our website or the society helpful please consider making a donation, no matter how large or small, everything helps.
