Iron Rich Foods

The last time my hemoglobin level was screened, it had dropped from 129 to 112. I was expecting something around 125, which would be very healthy for anyone, especially during pregnancy, but all I got was a lousy 112. The midwife said they don't worry until it's under 110, then realized how close my result was to 110 and corrected herself by saying that they don't recommend iron supplements until hemoglobin level drops below 105. Not so reassuring .

I have an idea why it might have dropped so fast during this pregnancy. I eat less meat. During the first trimester I suddenly didn't feel like eating meat and I didn't mind eating similar food to the one I make for Siiri - lots of carbs, plenty of vegetables and a bit of meat. I didn't fry a pork steak or serve a plate full of chili con carne with a slice of bread. I made REGULAR food. You know, the kind that is usually considered "healthy" . And this "heatlhy" nearly vegetarian menu almost made me anemic.

Problems are to be recognized and dealt with. I clearly don't get enough iron with food so I should eat more foods that are high in iron content. Right? Well that's what the midwife said so it must be right. So I should just eat plenty of beetroot, strawberries, beef, spinach, cereals and soybean?

There are so many foods loaded with iron but it's important to note that there are two kinds of iron: heme iron and non-heme iron. I've understood it has something to do with iron oxidation states. In animals iron is usually stored inside a structure called heme and has an oxidation state Fe(II). This heme with the iron is then used in red blood cells for oxygen transport. This kind of iron is quite easy to absorb from food. The other form is called non-heme iron, usually Fe(III) and that's hardly absorbed at all.

It's actually helpful to consume non-heme iron with antioxidant vitamin C, partly because it helps reduce Fe(III) to Fe(II) (source). Otherwise non-heme iron is actually pretty useless. Also, non-heme iron is usually consumed with lots of fiber. You know, "eat lots of healthy fruit and vegetables, they're full of fiber!". Fiber is horrible for iron absorption! It gets even worse. Most fruits or vegetables contain oxalates which bind divalent metallic cations like calcium or Fe(II). So the little amount of iron that gets reduced to Fe(II) and could possibly be absobed, in stead gets stuck on some oxalate and gets peed out. All you vegetarians out there, good luck getting your iron from food!

Lets talk numbers. Men need 10-20 mg of iron per day and women need around 20 mg. Pregnant women require roughly 30 mg of iron daily and anemic people are supplemented with 60 mg of iron once or twice a day. I should aim for at least 30 mg, if not even more. To simplify matters, I want to know how much I would have to eat each food to get 30 mg of iron. What I'd have to eat in one day, starting from heme iron: I would have to eat 860 g of beef, 2300 g of chicken leg, 1300 g of turkey, 670 g of trout, 3750 g of canned tuna or 350 g of oysters. That sucks. I can't eat that much meat every day! How about vegetarian sources of iron... Lets see, 860 g of cooked spinach, 670 g of oat flakes, 680 g of almonds, 1760 g of dried dates, 2140 g of potatoes, 1760 g of brown bread, 3000 of beetroot, 7500 g of strawberries, 3000 g of broccoli or 860 g of beans. That doesn't really help a lot.

Today I bought strawberries thinking they're a good source of iron. If I had known that I'd have to eat 7 and a half kilos of strawberries to reach my daily iron need, I would have only bought them for their taste. Also, I didn't know strawberries were a rich source of oxalates so the iron won't get absorbed anyway. Another food usually mentioned as a great source of iron is spinach. Popeye ate it for its high iron content and it made him strong. I guess he never read that spinach is so full of oxalates that they practically negate all the iron they contain. Rhubarb is sour because of oxalic acid and in not recommended for people with iron deficiency. I think this fact I'm going to have to ignore. I want rhubarb pie! I need my rhubarb pie and I'm gonna eat it no matter what those nutritionists say!

Uhm... I guess all that talk about simply eating iron rich foods is about as trustworthy as taking homeopathic medicine to relieve iron deficiency. It is nearly impossible to get the recommended amount of iron with food and it's practically impossible for vegetarians. 200g of beef each day with various iron-rich foods might add up to 10 mg of iron and that seems very realistic. However, three times that would simply make me fat.

I dislike the idea of food supplements, and I dislike the idea of having iron pills in my home since iron poisoning is the leading cause of poisoning in children in USA. Not the safest thing to have in the same apartment with a creative and curious toddler. I'll try eating lots of heme iron and non-heme iron with vitamin C with various foods. I doubt it will help much but at least now I know not to eat strawberries with the intent of getting my daily iron.