Home Remedies For Thalassemia

Home remedies for Thalassemia are mainly focused on making your life healthy and as normal as possible. Most thalassemia patients can have a normal life. There are some home remedies you can do to help your thalassemia treatment and to avoid complications:

Thalassemia patients have low bone mass due to anemia and iron overload. Therefore, the bones are very fragile which leads to fractures and osteoporosis. So, you need to have more calcium and vitamin D. Calcium is high in dairy products, small fish like salmon, sardines; leafy green vegetables and soy products.^[1] Vitamin D you can get from exposing yourself to morning sunlight (until 9 am). Milk, cereals, salmon have small amounts of vitamin D.^[2] have the above mentioned foods in your diet and expose yourself to morning sun by going for a walk or having a sunbath and these will become excellent home remedies for thalassemia.

Zinc has some important role to play in the body functions. It helps to optimize the immune function, body growth, increase bone density thereby reduce bone fractures, plays a role in the pubertal development and glucose homeostasis.^[3] Maintaining these functions are important to everyone, especially thalassemia patients. You need about 15-25 mg of zinc daily if you have thalassemia.^[3] Zinc is more in oysters, cereals, crab, chicken, yogurt and peanuts. Have more of these in your diet as they are good home remedies for Thalassemia.

Folic acid is important for the production of healthy red blood cells. Patients who are not on transfusion or with low transfusion regimens have increased folate consumption and can develop folate deficiency.^[4] Food such as lentils, beetroot, bananas, soy products and sweet potatoes are rich in folic acid. Add these foods to your daily diet as home remedy for thalassemia.^[5]

Thalassemia patients absorb more iron from the gastrointestinal tract than a normal person. All patients with thalassemia does not need iron restriction in their diet it depends on the individual person. If you are adhered to a proper chelation treatment iron in your diet will not be much of a problem.^[6] You need to ask your doctor whether you should limit iron intake in your food or not.

Iron is present as heme in animal meat and in some fish and as non-heme in plant food. Heme is more absorbable than non-heme, vitamin C can increase the absorption of non-heme iron. Food that are high in iron red meat, liver, and leafy green vegetables.^[7] The main problem with iron restriction is the plant food with high iron intake are also rich in vitamins, minerals and anti-oxidants, therefore it is important you have those foods. So, if you are told to limit iron intake you can consume the above mentioned plant food in moderate amounts, have it with a cup of black tea to reduce absorption. Do not have those with vitamin C containing food items like orange juice.

Thalassemia patients need high amounts of vitamin E.^[8] We encourage you to have vegetable oil, almonds, peanuts, hazelnuts and green leaves which are rich in vitamin E. Vitamin E intake for Thalassemia is an excellent home remedy.

Home remedies for thalassemia are mainly focused on making your life healthy and as normal as possible. There are some home remedies you can do to help your thalassemia treatment and to avoid complications. Overall have a balanced diet, include fruits and vegetables more into your diet along with carbohydrates, proteins and fats. Consume food which are rich in Calcium such as dairy products, small fish, soy products and leafy green vegetables. Expose yourself to morning sunlight to increase the vitamin D production. Have food rich in zinc such as oysters, cereals, crab, chicken, yogurt and peanuts. Consume more food with folic acid such as lentils, beetroot, bananas, soy products and sweet potatoes. Limit your iron intake if your doctor has advised, consume leafy green vegetables, soy products in moderate amounts, have it with a cup of black tea to reduce absorption. Have food rich in vitamin E such as vegetable oil, almonds, peanuts, hazelnuts and leafy green vegetables.

References:

Also Read:

• Can Thalassemia Be Detected Before Birth?
• Is Alpha Thalassemia Life Threatening?
• What Are The Long Term Effects Of Thalassemia?
• Prognosis For Thalassemia
• Types Of Thalassemia
• What Causes You To Have Thalassemia?
• How Do You Treat Beta Thalassemia?