nutritional advice??

Hi
I have just discovered this site and it's been incredible reading all your posts. I knew I was thal minor since being a teenager and for a while now I have been thinking that there must be more to it than the usual 'no symptoms'. If you think about the science, and what your RBCs do, it makes sense that it could actually have a big impact. I have just got so used to ALWAYS being tired (I have been falling asleep all my life!) having cold feet and hands and head, having very low energy, feeling a bit fuzzy and foggy in my brain, and incapable of functioning if I can't eat when I want to and very sensitive blood sugar, as well as lots of the other stuff that people on this site have talked about. All stuff that you can't really put your finger on and that other people would tell you is just nothing, but is a real problem and I think it is getting worse. Although obviously nothing like having thal major or another serious disease...
I don't know what any of my blood tests read (always just told I am fine) and I am going to see a hematologist now, hopefully I will find someone who knows about all of this (if anyone knows someone in London, England, please let me know!). However, I want to start right away by making changes to my diet to help myself. Please can you tell me the best things I can do on this front? I prefer eating real food to taking supplements wherever possible...
Thank you in advance for your help!!

ps. I forgot to say I am a BETA thal minor, in case that makes a difference.
thanks!

Hello c123,

to the site!

Your diet depends on your blood test results. If you have low HB due to Iron deficiency then having Iron rich diet might improve your health.

Please get your HB and Serum Ferritin checked to see what's causing all that lethargy

My wife and son both have alpha thal minor -2 gene deletion and I am a medical professional. 

If you are iron deficient in addition being thal minor, you will need to take iron suppliments-this can be ascertained through an iron panel (serum iron, Iron binding capacity, and Ferriton)

If your iron is normal, then the most crucial vitamin supplimentation for a thal minor is B complex (B6, B12, and folate).  B complex vitamins are essential for the creation of DNA, which is essential for cell replication.  As a thal minor, your bone marrow is working much harder than a non-thal, creating new DNA for new red blood cells to replace the old ones.  Thal red blood cells have a shorter life span because they are a bit smaller and more fragile.  Therefore, you have to make more of them per unit time, and B complex will help your bone marrow to do this.  (You may remember from elementary biology that red blood cells (RBCs)  lack a nucleus and there fore you may be wondering why we have to create DNA in order to make them.  Interestingly, baby RBCs have a nuclues while they are still within the bone marrow and it is usually extruded before the RBC exits the marrow and enters the blood stream.)

This is one theory for why thal evolved in the first place...you are actually less likely to become severely anemic when ill because your bone marrow is so fast to replace your RBCs.  there are many other theories...but there is indesputable evidence that thal minor does protect you from dying of malaria.  You can still get malaria and get very sick...but you are less likely to die from it than a non-thal.

After B complex, I think that further questions of supplimentation are more speculative.  I would recommend antioxidants, Vitamin E and C, especially.  Vitamin C is essential for collagen production and may make your skin look nicer.  Vitamin E is a fat soluble antioxidant that has been a hopeful preventer of everything from Lou Gherig's disease to heart disease, but nothing has panned out in evidence based studies.  However, a steady supply of vitamin E can't hurt.

From the point of view of food, I think that a balanced, regular diet is key.  As a thal, I don't think that you can skip meals without consequence....as you have personally experienced.  As to specifics of what type of diet is best for a thal...I think that is also purely speculative.

My wife and son have been following these guidlines and both of their hemoglobin levels are within normal limits, although their red blood cells are still small...that won't change as that is the defining characteristic of a thal minor.  My wife just finished grad school and my son is an energetic 17 month old who tires me out.

I wish you the best

Hello Wastor,

Thanx for this useful information, it's definitely good to have a medical professional on this site.

ZAINI.

(I have a previous post within the thread labeled Nutritional advice)

I should clarify that my specialty is not Hematology.  I completed medical school two years ago and I am currently training in the specialty of Radiology.  However, since my wife and son both have thal minor, I have done much reading on the subject within the medical literature. 

Personally, one of the most eye opening articles was published in the New England Journal back in 1997 (N Engl J Med 336:1298, May 1, 1997)  which was a epidemiological survey of thal minor in Hong Kong.  They basically tested a few thousand asymptomatic kids in high school and found that 1 in 15 to 1 in 20 have thal minor.  Take home point is that thal minor is EXTREMELY common in certain parts of the world...especially regions of South East Asia.  The thal gene is common for a reason...it provides a very real EVOLUTIONARY ADVANTAGE compared to non-thals.  But with this advantage comes the tradeoffs of symptoms that are frequently discussed on this site.  Everything in life comes with a tradeoff...nothing is for free, especially when it comes to survival!


I also found, through my reading that Deepak Chopka's children and wife are beta thal minor.  He gives an interesting perspective on it in his writings....

Hi, I am beta thal. trait.  I have all the symptoms that are mentioned.  I am always tired and when I have anxiety, I will black out too.  I went to my friend who is a infertility specialist.  I told her that I had beta thal. trait.  She told me to take iron supplement.  I took it for 6 months and my iron level was only increased a little bit.  I went to see an internal medicine doctor.  I'd never seen him before but he's very detailed oriented.  I didn't mentioned about the disease.  He looked through my lab records from the computer and told me to take a test to determine what type of thalassemia I was.  I now know that I am beta thal. trait.  He told me I don't have to take iron supplement. 
I recently went to see a herbalist.  He's the first one who prescribed me herbs that can increase my pulse rate and blood pressure reading on the low side.  I am still tired but less fuzzy or foggy.  I feel less tense.   
I am taking multivitamin and calcium plus D daily.  My doctor told me that iron supplement won't help but I like to have medium rare on the rare side steak once in a while especially when my monthly cycle is on.