Better Health & Living: Article: Chronic Cough? Check Your Iron Levels

Issue: September 2008

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Chronic Cough? Check Your Iron Levels

by Sarí Harrar

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Forget the cough drops— if you have a mysterious, stubborn cough, ask your doctor about an iron test.

When Italian researchers checked the iron levels of 16 women who had pesky coughs despite healthy lungs, it was discovered that all the women were iron deficient; they also had sensitive vocal cords and red, swollen mucous membranes inside their mouths. After they took iron supplements for two months, their coughing stopped, and inflammation subsided.

If you’re coughing, first ask your doctor to check for respiratory infections, asthma, and a serious breathing problem called chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. If everything is normal, ask for a hemoglobin or hematocrit test—a measurement of iron levels in the blood. If they’re low, your doctor will prescribe a short-term course of iron supplements and suggest you get more iron in your diet from red meat and dark-meat poultry and from combining vitamin C-rich foods with plant sources of iron such as spinach. Don’t take iron supplements on your own: They can lead to digestive problems and, for some people, raise the body’s iron stores to heart-threatening levels.