So, it’s official, I’m anemic. (not that I’m horribly shocked, being an atheletic vegetarian premenopausal female with menorrhagia) My doctor said to take an over the counter iron supplement with juice and we’ll check it in a month. But I’m trying to figure out what form of iron I should take.
Most of the supplements at Whole Foods are iron biglycinate, which is a chelated iron I think. Most of the research I find about this form seems to come from the natural health companies and I’m always sceptical of their research. I see ferrous sulfate mentioned a lot, mainly for it’s penchant to cause gastrointestinal distress. I’ve also seen mention of carbonyl iron and ferrous fumerate, along with reports that the iron from these forms is poorly absorbed.
Anyone got pointers on what I should be looking for? I’m not asking for medical advice and I am seeing a doctor, I’d just like to see some research on what the most optimal form of iron is for correcting anemia. Usually, I’m pretty good at googling this kinda stuff, but I’m drawing a blank here.
Back in the dark ages when I was an anemic vegetarian with menorrhagia (OK about 20 years ago) the school nurse gave me Geritol Tonic. Supposedly the most iron you could get over the counter at the time. The absolute nastiest thing ever - like someone had liquefied an iron skillet in acid then sweetened the heck out of the black tar liquid that remained. It worked though.
Here’s a link that lists a number of different preparations.
I used to use Niferex which is, IIRC, a polysaccharide iron complex and didn’t seem to be too horrible on the digestive system though it wasn’t great either. I tried a bisglycinate version (Gentle Iron) and found it as bad on the innards as the cheapo ferrous sulfate (I think) that seems to be the default preparation.
As far as which is the most effective, no clue (hopefully others will chime in), however if the side effects are such that you can’t tolerate it, no preparation will work.
I finally defaulted to just using a cheapo tablet, and fighting the side effects by a combination of: not taking them every day, eating a lot of dried fruit and other fiber, and occasionally using FiberCon. It seems to be tolerable if I do those things.
Oh yeah: you were specifically asking about iron supplements (not about other ways of raising your iron levels) but I had to toss in the standard advice of using cast iron cookware if you have it (and if you don’t, buy some. I love cooking in my cast iron dutch oven). It’s not sure how much iron it adds but IIRC it’s not insignificant. Here’s one link that discusses: http://bmj.bmjjournals.com/cgi/content/full/310/6991/1368
tremorviolet , I am a veggie as well. I try to cook as much of my food as possible in iron skillets. They are a pain to clean; but getting the iron in small doses with food has been helpful for me. I ask for my red count each time I donate blood and it is nearly always within a normal to high range. I am not sure if the amount of iron transferred into your food is significent enough to help in your case, but it might not hurt to try-
I will add that you need Vit C and B12 to get that Iron to work. In fact, some women who appear anemic do get enough Iron, just not enough B12. I suggest discussing with you MD adding a large (100mcg) B12 pill to your diet every day.
Vitamin B12 (cobalamin) properties
Good for:
making red blood cells
the formation of the nerves.
Signs of vitamin B12 deficiency:
tiredness due to anaemia
abnormalities of nervous tissue function.
Good sources of vitamin B12:
fish
liver
beef
pork
milk
cheese.
Vitamin B12 deficiency can arise in strict vegans because our dietary sources of vitamin B12 are animal in origin. The other main cause of vitamin B12 deficiency is pernicious anaemia.
Recommended daily amount: 1 microgram.
Poisoning: no danger as the vitamin dissolves in water, so excess is excreted in the urine.
Destroyed by: water, sunlight, alcohol, oestrogen and sleeping pills. "
As a bariatric patient one of my daily rituals is to take a Flintstones with iron. This is what the nurse said to do forever.
Interesting sidebar: It’s done at noon hours after taking a morning calcium suppliment. You don’t want to mix iron a calcium suppliments too close together. Somehow or other they do battle with each other and neither gets absorbed well.
I’d heard that was good, especially for tomato based dishes. It would probably help if it wasn’t that I don’t cook. At all. Other than reheating take-out in the microwave (which I don’t think likes cast iron ).
I already take a multivitamin so I should be OK on the B12 (plus I’m not vegan, I do eat eggs and tuna occasionally). And I eat a crap load (literally, 30+ grams of fiber) of fruit and veggies so my Vitamin C is good. I tracked my food on Fitday for a while when I was trying to lose weight and I’m good on most stuff except for iron, calcium, phosphorus, and magnesium.
Thanks for the advice and info, everyone. Anyone have any information on “chelated” iron and if it’s a scam or not?
Many Multi-Vits have little B12, and you are anemic so you may well need a lot more. Call your Dr. or his nurse and see what they say about adding a B12 pill to your diet. It’s pretty cheap, and the worst thing that can happen (in 99.99% of the cases) is that your pee turns a brighter yellow.
Start here and then click related articles. Pay SPECIAL attention to Iron Absorption Enhancers and Inhibitors…then click on related articles.
My wife has/had IDA…went from a 8.5 to 11.6 (in ONE month) and is now at 12.7, halfway through the second month. The doctor told us to expect only 1 point per month, and the doctor was elated that she did better. My wife uses SlowFE.
Huh, that’s pretty interesting about raw spinach being an inhibitor; I eat a lot of raw spinach.
I’m hoping I can efficiently get my iron up fast. For a long time I’ve had trouble with running out of breath way more than my team mates and being lethargic onteh weekends. I figured I just wasn’t in good enough shape and lazy but maybe lack of iron has been contributing…
It’s cheap, but unless one has pernicious anemia, more B12 is not really better. If a person has intact intrinsic factor, they can absorb all the B12 they need from most diets. That includes lacto-ovo veg diets. B12 is water soluble, so large doses are just pissed away.
Mega-doses of foods rich in B12 were useful before B12 was isolated and available in injection form for folks who couldn’t produce intrinsic factor, and hence didn’t absorb it (the cause of pernicious anemia). So they’d eat a pound of liver a day, and by sheer volume manage to absorb enough to make red blood cells.
As for the OP, most of my patients (including the female ones I used to have) do just fine with iron in its gluconate form.
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