By Sari Harrar from Reader’s Digest June 2010

Iron deficiency leaves you exhausted and can reduce immunity, but your hands hold a clue.

Iron is your body’s “energy” mineral, grabbing oxygen from every breath you take and delivering it to cells throughout your body. If you don’t have enough, you can develop bone-weary fatigue, concentration problems, even shortness of breath and an irregular heartbeat. Unfortunately, deficiencies aren’t uncommon: It’s estimated that 20 percent of women (half of all pregnant women) and 3 percent of men have low iron. “It’s very common to be anemic and not be aware of it, because it comes on slowly and insidiously,” says family practitioner Lloyd P. Van Winkle, MD, at the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio.

Home Check

Spread your palm wide. Are the creases pale? “No matter what your natural skin color, unusual paleness of your palm creases, or of your gums and the inside of your eyelids, is a sign of reduced circulation in small blood vessels near the surface of your skin due to low iron,” Dr. Van Winkle says.

Your Next Step

Ask your doctor if you should have a hemoglobin or hematocrit test to check levels of iron-rich hemoglobin in your blood. Your physician should also examine your red blood cells (small and pale could mean trouble). A serum ferritin test, which measures levels of a protein that helps store iron, is good at flagging early signs of iron deficiency.