boosting iron levels

Just had a chat with my doc about the latest blood tests. Apparently my iron levels are at the very low end of normal which could explain my persistent fatigue. But he was hesitant to prescribe supplement tablets and suggested increasing dietary iron first as a more long term solution. So now I need to know, what food should I eat more of? I generally eat a pretty varied diet and I'm not vegetarian. But I do not like liver (except liver pate which I do eat regularly). I picked up a bag of spinach at the grocery store today to have for lunches. Any other suggestions for good sources of iron?

I understand that cooking in cast iron pots boosts your iron levels.

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Originally Posted by uk elephant

Just had a chat with my doc about the latest blood tests. Apparently my iron levels are at the very low end of normal which could explain my persistent fatigue. But he was hesitant to prescribe supplement tablets and suggested increasing dietary iron first as a more long term solution. So now I need to know, what food should I eat more of? I generally eat a pretty varied diet and I'm not vegetarian. But I do not like liver (except liver pate which I do eat regularly). I picked up a bag of spinach at the grocery store today to have for lunches. Any other suggestions for good sources of iron?

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happened to me before. I think to take darker green vegetables such as kale, broccoli as opposed to cabbage and cauliflower. Also more liver and darker meats such as beef?

but honestly, i found it easier to take a small iron tablet along with more iron rich foods when i was feeling a little fatigued, i'd be right as rain in 2 days, then i'll stop... till when i next feel too tired. usually after my menses. There is only so much liver and red meat one can eat. Liver is very fattening too...

Nothing like a nice, juicy steak, I say. I have to have one at least once a month... if you get my drift.

Iron pills have messed with my stomach in the past, although I have not tried them in decades. Maybe they've improved.

In addition to lots of dark green leafy veggies (I make spinach lasagne in my crock pot using frozen spinach if fresh is not available), I keep a supply of beef in my freezer and try to have some at least once a week. Some people don't think that's very healthy for the planet or for people, but it's what works for me. BTW, I get my beef directly from a local farm. It's grass fed, yadda yadda yadda.

Iron from vegetables is not absorbed as well as iron from meat, but having something with lots of vitamin c like citrus fruits/juice or tomatoes along with the vegetables improves the absorption.

I'll stock up on some good beef next time I go shopping. BF will be very happy with more steak dinners. I'll try to incorporate more leafy greens too. Any good recipies to suggest?

I think I read you'd have to eat a cow to really boost iron levels.


How about an iron shot? Pills you have to take forever to have an effect.

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Originally Posted by uk elephant

I'll stock up on some good beef next time I go shopping. BF will be very happy with more steak dinners. I'll try to incorporate more leafy greens too. Any good recipies to suggest?

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I love stir frying spinach in a cast iron pan with olive oil and garlic until wilted and adding in some diced tomato at the end, just long enough to heat them up and soften them a bit. It helps you get a lot of spinach into you easily.

I have an iron radar. I have discovered over the years that a lot of the foods I love and crave have lots of iron in them. My iron level has never been low... (I discovered a few years back that the gene of hemochromatosis runs in my family. Those who develop the disease just keep accumulating iron beyond healthy levels and "poison" themselves. Thankfully I don't have the disease, but this probably explains why I love iron-rich foods so much.)

According to the Wikipedia "iron" article, here is a pretty good list of my culinary tastes:

Good sources of dietary iron include red meat, fish, poultry, lentils, beans, leaf vegetables, tofu, chickpeas, black-eyed peas, fortified bread, and fortified breakfast cereals. Iron in low amounts is found in molasses, teff and farina. Iron in meat (haem iron) is more easily absorbed than iron in vegetables,[26] but heme/hemoglobin from red meat has effects which may increase the likelihood of colorectal cancer.[27][28]

(I love molasses. On buckwheat crepes. Two excellent sources of iron.)

I would like to add: oysters, clams, blood sausage (in the red meat category), eggs, whole wheat products (such as Shreddies, mmmm!), other soy products, all the good stuff.

You and I are in the same boat. (or at least, a very similar boat. Can we choose the boat? I'd like a luxury sailboat with a full staff ready to fulfill my every whim...)

Anyway, I've been cooking in cast iron forever. I've eaten all the high iron goodies I can find. Finally I'm faced with taking iron pills. They have brought me up to low-almost-normal-but-not-quite-normal-yet.

At the moment I'm on 325 mg ferrous sulfate and 500 mg vitamin C taken together every night with dinner. I've had no stomach trouble at all. (of course, I'm taking them along with all the other celiacker malabsorbed vits, but they aren't bothering me either so I'm assuming everything is ok with the iron)

If diet and cast iron don't bring you up to speed, I'd try the vit C and iron combination.

Meanwhile I keep on forgetting to take prescribed iron supplements...

I doubt I will be ingesting more beef/pork just to get iron in. And smell of liver to prepare at home, actually now makes me abit nauseous..though as a child I did eat and enjoy liver. (Mother steamed liver slices in abit soy sauce, minced ginger root and wine/sherry in a dish)

I have 1/2 teaspoon OJ concentrate (yep, straight out of the cardboard carton) with a small handful of frosted wheat cereal (90% iron content) plus a daily vitamin containing iron plus oatmeal mixed with a little cream of wheat.
This works for me. I used to get turned away at the blood drive. Hasn't been a problem since I started my better living through food chemistry experiment.
Barb

ooo....and excuse to go shopping for cooking stuff! I'll go hunting for a cast iron pot on Saturday. Will be ideal for making wintery stews now that the summer weather is just about over for this year. Beef stew simmered slowly in a cast iron pot should help, with lots of dark green leafy things thrown in. I do like black pudding (blood sausage), but I prefer the Norwegian variety. I will have to research the various butchers to find one I like. I started my iron rich diet today for lunch: spinach salad with egg, crackers with liver pate, glass of juice.

My mother used to give me a spoonful of molasses every day. My dentist didn't like that, but I suppose it kept my iron up.

From the City of Toronto Public Health Dept. http://www.toronto.ca/health/pdf/loadingup.pdf List of iron rich foods with meat and vegetarian options.

Knotted and UK: hope your iron levels are up. Got my results today..back to normal at 127. 2 months ago at 91...which was abit too low.

(During required iron supplement intake period, I found myself only taken 1 per day, instead of Dr.'s prescribed 2 per day.)

I've been struggling with low iron going on two decades now, caused by heavy menstrual losses. I'm able to keep my ferritin levels above 25 most of the time, but only with a lot of work. I already cook on cast iron and have never been a vegetarian. I take oral iron almost daily.

Optimizing your absorption of iron can get pretty complicated.

To enhance absorption: Take it with B12+folate, Vitamin C, and heme-iron containing animal foods. Darker red meats are good, liver is the best. I get a pate at the farmer's market at least once a month. Chelated (with amino acids) or carbonyl forms of iron supplements are not as harsh on the stomach and GI tract as iron salts (ferrous sulfate, gluconate, whatever-ate).

Avoid taking it with: Certain medications are negatively affected by being taken within 6 hours of iron (most notably for me is thyroid medication). Molecularly similar metals (zinc, cobalt, molybdenum, etc.) compete with iron receptors and reduce absorption of iron. Most importantly, avoid taking it with foods that are high in polyphenols, because these bind non-heme iron and reduce absorption as well. Notable sources of polyphenols include berries, tea, beer, grapes/wine, olive oil, chocolate/cocoa, coffee, walnuts, peanuts, borojo, pomegranates, popcorn, yerba mate, and other fruits and vegetables.

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Originally Posted by alpinerabbit

How about an iron shot? Pills you have to take forever to have an effect.

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Because of everything I've just mentioned, I'm talking to my doctor about an iron sucrose (Venofer) infusion. The older Dextran forms of intravenous iron have a higher high potential for anaphylaxis, but newer iron sucrose seems to be much better tolerated by lots of patients. It's still only officially approved for anemia management in dialysis patients, but more and more healthcare practitioners are realizing that it's extremely useful for people with chronic low iron as well as acute iron depletion (postpartum, surgery, etc).

Wow Dianyla. Hope you find a more body-sustainable solution for low iron.

I've had low iron levels at different times in life over the past few decades but didn't do anything different foodwise nor take any iron supplements. This time was the first time the doctor clearly put me on a regime with a deadline so my level was probably low enough, combined with my age..

The fact that I am in perimenopause for past 2 yrs. where my periods are now lighter, not heavier, probably caused doctor to make sure I take abit of action and be retested again for iron improvement.

I also had stool tests to ensure I was not losing blood/iron (via stool) for totally different other reasons. She probably wanted to ensure it wasn't colon malignacies ...

My iron is hovering around 22.

Been taking it with Vit C, in the evening, but didn't know it absorbs better with B12 (which I also take). I'll have to play with the timing of my various vits and see if I can raise my iron up without having to take more of the stuff!

Don't know what kind of iron measurements/skales the doctor used. He said 10-100 was normal and that I was at 11 which seems very low if it's on the same scale as yours. Hmmm....I will make a list of questions for the specialist on Tuesday.

Not sure if anything is working yet, but I'm eating spinach every day and increasing my red meat intake. Also having pate or red meat (pastrami) most days with my lunch. Tried to buy a cast iron pot, but the shop was out. Will pick one up in a week or two when they've got them in again. But reading your post, Dianyla, I'm not sure I'm doing very well after all considering all the things on your list of "avoid taking with". I drink a lot of tea (live in UK after all) and eat a fair bit of chocolate, fruit and berries. Hmm... wonder if the doctor can hook me up with a nutritionist to sort this out....

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Originally Posted by uk elephant

Don't know what kind of iron measurements/skales the doctor used. He said 10-100 was normal and that I was at 11 which seems very low if it's on the same scale as yours. Hmmm....I will make a list of questions for the specialist on Tuesday.

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I'm referring to the serum ferritin, in units of ng/mL. Ferritin is a protein that binds a molecule of iron for long-term storage in your body, and it is the best indicator of your bodily iron stores.

Here's what I know about ferritin results ranges:
<12: Unmeasurable/undetectable. You probably feel like crap.
12-20: This is clinically deficient, any doctor will agree that you are too low in iron.
20-30: This is subclinical iron deficiency, you may still feel crappy but many doctors will tell you you're "fine" because the diagnostic criteria for anemia is below 20.
30-60: There is some debate about whether this is an adequate amount of ferritin. Some research shows that ferritin can still be in this range even if your liver and bone marrow stores of iron are depleted - especially in athletes.
60-100: Very good chance that you've got adequate iron stores in your blood, bone marrow, and liver. However other deficiencies (notably B12) can still cause pernicious anemia, undersized (microcytic) red blood cells, etc.

(ETA: I didn't mention this initially because we're discussing low iron, but it's worth pointing out that ferritin above 200 can indicate hemochromatosis - a hereditary iron overload disorder.)

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Originally Posted by uk elephant

But reading your post, Dianyla, I'm not sure I'm doing very well after all considering all the things on your list of "avoid taking with". I drink a lot of tea (live in UK after all) and eat a fair bit of chocolate, fruit and berries. Hmm... wonder if the doctor can hook me up with a nutritionist to sort this out....

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It's OK to eat these foods (thank goodness! :eek: ) just not within a few hours of taking your oral iron supplements.