Iron
A lack of iron is one of the most common dietary deficiencies in Australia. If you’re feeling tired all the time even though you get plenty of sleep and lead an otherwise normal, happy life, it is possible that you have an iron deficiency. Iron is essential to make red blood cells, and small children need iron for normal mental development.
Who is at risk of iron deficiency?
Toddlers who drink a lot of milk or soy milk and do not eat meat or other good sources of iron teenage girls and women who have heavy periods pregnant women vegetarians and those who avoid red meat but don’t eat other iron-rich foods blood donors
Iron deficiency is rare in men, because contrary to popular opinion, even a very large man needs less than half as much iron as a woman or teenage girl. It’s always difficult to encourage teenage girls to eat meat, and the problem often starts early in life. At age two to three years, little boys are given 33% more meat than girls of the same age. By 12-15 years of age, girls who eat meat have only a little over half the serving size that boys do, and 16-24 year old females have the lowest meat consumption of all. Surveys show that up to 30% of young women prefer to avoid red meat, and around 50% of women consume half, or less, of their daily needs for iron.
What is my daily iron requirement?
Men 5-7 mg
Women 12-16 mg
Teenagers (12-18 yrs) 10-13 mg
Children (1-11 yrs) 6-8 mg
Sources of iron
The best sources are oysters, mussels and red meat. Chicken and fish don’t have as much as meat, but like meat their iron is well absorbed. Even if you prefer not to eat meat, you can still get enough iron as long as you have plenty of legumes, nuts, seeds, tofu, eggs, lots of green vegies, some wholemeal bread, cereals with added iron and milk with added iron. Refer to the following table for more detail:
Food |
Iron (mg) |
|
Animal foods |
|
|
Chicken, 125g |
1.6 |
|
Egg, 1 |
0.9 |
|
Fish, grilled, 150g |
0.2-1.0 |
|
Red meat, 125g |
4.0-5.0 |
|
Mussels, 12 |
5.8 |
|
Oysters, 12 |
5.7 |
|
Pork chop, grilled loan, 125g |
1.5 |
|
Salmon, canned or grilled, average serving |
0.8 |
|
Tuna, canned in oil, 100g |
1.6 |
|
Plant foods |
|
|
Broad, wholemeal, 2 slices |
1.6 |
|
Branflakes, 40g |
7.2 |
|
Muesli, natural, 60g |
4.8 |
|
Weetbix, 2 |
2.5 |
|
Bulgur (cracked wheat), 1 cup, soaked |
2.6 |
|
Pasta, white, 1 cup cooked |
0.7 |
|
Pasta, wholemeal, 1 cup cooked |
3.0 |
|
Rice, brown, steamed, 1 cup |
0.8 |
|
Wheatgerm, 1 tablespoon |
1.0 |
|
Apricots, dried, 100g |
3.1 |
|
Baked beans, canned,1 cup |
4.4 |
|
Beans, green, 100g |
1.1 |
|
Lentils, cooked, 1 cup |
3.6 |
|
Peas, cooked, 100g |
1.6 |
|
Potato, 1 medium, cooked |
1.1 |
|
Spinach, cooked, 100g* |
3.0 |
|
Sweet corn, 1 cob |
3.2 |
|
Tomato, 1 medium |
1.2 |
|
Nuts, 50g |
2.0 |
|
Peanut butter, 1 tablespoon |
0.5 |
|
Pumpkin seeds, 50g |
5.0 |
|
Tahini, I tablespoon |
1.2 |
|
Soy beverage, 250 ml |
1.3 |
|
Tempeh, 50g |
3.6-5.0 |
|
Tofu, 100g |
2.8 |
|
* not well absorbed |
How can I be sure there’s enough iron in my diet?
The body can compensate to some extent and absorb more iron when it’s needed, for example during pregnancy. Even a little bit of meat, fish or chicken will increase the amount of iron you absorb from vegies, and vitamin C in fruits and vegetables also increases the amount of iron you absorb. You can also take iron supplements, in fact they’re essential if you are anaemic or your stored iron levels are really low. Once the levels are normal again, you should improve your diet to keep them that way. Here are Rosemary’s recommendations to make sure your iron intake is adequate: buy cereals that have added iron sprinkle wheatgerm on your porridge snack on dried apricots or pumpkin seeds instead of lollies have baked beans on wholemeal toast introduce your kids to foods that are good sources of iron and encourage them to eat meat or fish or chicken have some fresh fruit or vegetables at each meal, so that their vitamin C will increase the absorption of iron