Nutrition – Boosting iron intake

Did you know that recently it was Iron Awareness week? An ‘awareness week’ is a way to highlight an issue. For Iron Awareness week it is time to look at one of the most common nutrient deficiencies, to see who is at risk, the implications of low iron and the dietary choices to boost iron intake.

Iron deficiency affects 30 per cent of the world population, mostly women and children. In New Zealand, one in 14 women over 15 years old has an iron deficiency, and 14 per cent of children under the age of two are iron deficient. Iron is an important mineral for our bodies, vital for physical and mental health and wellbeing. It enables blood to carry oxygen around the body, maintains a healthy immune system and helps in energy production.

The symptoms of iron deficiency are commonly attributed to a ‘busy lifestyle’ or ‘a bug’; just feeling off or flat. Because iron is essential for providing energy, low iron levels mean you could be feeling tired and grumpy, lacking energy or more susceptible to illness. Important symptoms of low iron to look out for are feeling tired and weak, feeling the cold easily, being irritable or grumpy, poor concentration, short of breath when exercising, getting sick often, headaches, pale skin and gums.

If you can tick off any symptoms in the list above, you may be short of iron – but don’t just rush out and grab an iron supplement ‘just in case.’ The only way to be sure of an iron deficiency is to go to your doctor for a simple blood test.

While iron is essential it is also toxic if you have too much. It is rare to intake too much iron from food but supplements should be taken under advisement from your doctor. Although most of the iron we eat is from non-haem sources (vegetables), we actually obtain most of our iron from haem (meat and seafood) sources because the body absorbs it more efficiently.

These days, with more of a focus on plant-based diets, there has been an increase in the prevalence of iron deficiency. It is all well and good to increase vegetables and decrease meat intake, however there is the risk of reduced iron intake. Once you are aware of the risk there are some simple dietary tweaks to compensate.

Here are four simple ways to help improve iron intake:

1. Include plenty of vitamin C rich fruits and vegetables with your meals as vitamin C can increase the absorption of non-haem iron by two to three times.
   
2. The tannins in tea, coffee, cocoa and red wine inhibit non-haem iron absorption, so best to enjoy these between meals rather than with a meal.
   
3. Choose fermented soy foods such as tempeh and miso.
   
4. Avoid low calorie or restrictive diets as these often lead to missing out on daily iron requirements.