I crave ice all the time and eat it all the time. i have heard this is from low iron....true or false?

True: Need blood work to confirm. Pica is what the ice craving from iron deficiency is called. You need your iron, hemoglobin and hematocrit levels checked and followed as you replace iron levels!

Sometimes true: Ice cravings has been reported as a symptom of iron deficiency anemia. Some people believe ice cravings also occur in other forms of anemia, such as thalassemia anemias. It is not known how many non-anemic persons have ice cravings, so it is unknown how likely it would be for a ice cravings to occur coincidentally with an anemia but not due to the anemia. A primary care doctor can sort things out.

True: In one small study, (88%) percent of people who have ongoing significant low iron had craving for ice. It is worth getting a ferritin level (lab test) as well as checking the red blood cell count. 99% of those with low iron have low ferritin. If ferritin is normal low iron is very unlikely. If you have low iron, you should look into the cause as there are some serious causes of low iron.