Long COVID may be triggered by low iron levels, scientists discover

New research has identified iron deficiencies in the blood as a major culprit in long COVID cases.

A new report from the University of Cambridge was able to connect that low iron levels contributed to inflammation and anemia and halted healthy red blood cell production in patients just two weeks after being diagnosed with COVID-19.

Many of those individuals reported having long COVID — which has recently been associated with a frightening IQ loss from brain fog — within months, according to the study, published in Nature Immunology.

At the minimum, about three in 10 people infected with SARS-CoV-2 have been at risk for long COVID, according to the university. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that just under an average of 3 million Americans are treated for anemia or iron deficiency.

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“When the body has an infection, it responds by removing iron from the bloodstream. This protects us from potentially lethal bacteria that capture the iron in the bloodstream and grow rapidly,” said co-author Hal Drakesmith. “It’s an evolutionary response that redistributes iron in the body, and the blood plasma becomes an iron desert.”

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Drakesmith added that when this happens over a long duration, the lack of iron results in oxygen being “less efficiently” transported throughout the body, and it leaves negative impacts on metabolism and energy production.

Those with both severe and mild COVID cases had shown similar patterns within their blood, according to the research, which analyzed blood samples over a year.

“Although we saw evidence that the body was trying to rectify low iron availability and the resulting anemia by producing more red blood cells, it was not doing a particularly good job of it in the face of ongoing inflammation,” said researcher Dr. Aimee Hanson.

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“Iron levels, and the way the body regulates iron, were disrupted early on during [a Covid] infection, and took a very long time to recover, particularly in those people who went on to report long COVID months later.”

Hanson said that a more straightforward approach — such as giving patients iron supplements — can become convoluted.

Now, using the new data as a way to improve long COVID treatment, experts like Hanson are looking into controlling aggressive inflammation as quickly as possible to reduce impacts on iron levels.

“It isn’t necessarily the case that individuals don’t have enough iron in their body, it’s just that it’s trapped in the wrong place,” she said.

“What we need is a way to remobilize the iron and pull it back into the bloodstream, where it becomes more useful to the red blood cells.”

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