00:00Imagine feeling exhausted for months.
00:02You're short of breath, you tire easily, you hear it's thinning,
00:07and your doctor tells you your iron level is normal.
00:11But could you still be low on iron?
00:14Surprisingly, yes.
00:15Let me explain how this can happen.
00:18Many patients show up in their doctor's office like this.
00:22Months of fatigue and lack of energy,
00:25waking up in the morning feeling drained,
00:27and everything is normal on routine lab work.
00:31Then a blood test is done that uncovers an abnormality lurking right below the surface.
00:39The test is called the TIBC,
00:42and it sometimes reveals problems that a simple iron level can miss.
00:48Today I'm going to explain exactly what TIBC measures,
00:53when you should get it checked,
00:54and what the results could mean for your health.
00:59TIBC stands for Total Iron Binding Capacity.
01:04That simply means the total amount of iron your blood is capable of holding.
01:10Think of going picking apples at the farm.
01:13The bigger the bag, the more apples you can fit.
01:16In the same way, the bigger your TIBC,
01:21the more iron your blood is capable of carrying.
01:25But why would anyone want to know how much iron their blood can carry?
01:30That is a very good question.
01:33Your blood is always carrying iron.
01:35It takes iron from the bowel,
01:39where iron is absorbed from the food we eat,
01:41and it carries that iron to the tissues that need iron.
01:47Our body uses iron for making blood,
01:50and for muscle function.
01:53The oxygen we breathe in
01:55binds the hemoglobin in our red blood cells,
01:59and the iron within the hemoglobin plays a critical role
02:03in carrying the oxygen throughout the body.
02:07There are also certain enzymes in the body
02:10that need iron to function.
02:13You see, iron is therefore a very important element in our bodies.
02:20Now here's where things become interesting.
02:23A high TIBC can actually be a clue
02:27that your body is struggling to find enough iron.
02:32That sounds a little backwards, doesn't it?
02:35Knowing how much iron our body can carry
02:38by measuring the TIBC
02:41gives doctors clues about your stores,
02:46your iron stores,
02:47especially when they interpret this
02:50alongside your ferritin and serum iron levels.
02:56If our iron stores are low,
02:58the liver makes more protein called transferrin
03:02that transports iron in the blood.
03:06When iron stores are low,
03:09the liver produces more transferrin
03:11to help capture any iron
03:14and transport all the available iron
03:17throughout the body.
03:21TIBC indirectly measures
03:23the level of this transferrin in our blood.
03:27Iron that binds to the transferrin protein in the blood
03:31only binds to a small portion of it.
03:35It binds about 15 to 50% of it.
03:40But if there's a shortage of iron,
03:43very little iron can bind to transferrin.
03:46And when this happens,
03:49we say that the transferrin saturation is low.
03:54It is only about 10 to 20% bound by iron
03:58when there's a shortage of iron.
04:01By measuring the TIBC,
04:04we can calculate the transferrin saturation.
04:08TIBC, if you recall,
04:11is an indirect measure of transferrin.
04:13So we can divide the iron in the blood
04:17by the TIBC
04:18to get a picture of the saturation of transferrin.
04:23We could then express that
04:25as a percentage
04:27by multiplying by 100.
04:31In other words,
04:32a transferrin saturation of less than 20%
04:35would suggest that the iron stores are low.
04:39So should you get a TIBC?
04:42If your doctor suspects iron deficiency,
04:46especially when symptoms are present,
04:49but the diagnosis is not obvious,
04:52TIBC can provide valuable information.
04:56When interpreted alongside ferritin,
04:59serum iron, and transferrin saturation,
05:01it helps paint a much clearer picture
05:05of your body's iron stores.
05:08In some cases,
05:09it may even reveal a problem
05:12that a simple iron level alone could miss.
05:15I hope you found this video useful.
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05:20with your friends and family.
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05:25Until the next video,
05:27stay healthy
05:27and stay safe.
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