Your body needs dietary iron to produce hemoglobin for red blood cells and proteins that serve other body functions. The USDA Dietary Guidelines for Americans encourage consumers to get iron and other minerals from food sources, rather than from supplement pills, for better absorption and overall nutritional value.
You can easily achieve the FDA's recommended 18 mg adult daily value by eating a variety of healthy foods, which will help you get the rest of your essential nutrients at the same time. Variety between and among food groups provides two types of iron content to ensure that you absorb and use as much iron as your body requires.
Meat and Seafood
The USDA Nutrient Database includes red meats, poultry, mollusks, crustaceans and fish as iron food sources. Iron content differs among foods. Clams, oysters, turkey and chicken giblets, pork liver and beef liver are among the highest. Along with these foods, hotdogs and hamburgers provide your diet with greater than 20 percent daily iron values, or DV. The FDA considers this mineral content high iron. Other meat cuts and fish and crustaceans provide moderate to low content.
Enriched Cereals
If you have trouble getting enough dietary iron, the National Institutes of Health, or NIH, suggests eating iron-enriched cereals. Check the nutrition facts printed on the packages to discover ready-to-eat or cooked cereal products that contain from 20 to 100 percent DV of iron. Milk and rice or soy beverages all add minute amounts of iron to accompany these breakfast cereals.
Dry Cooked Beans
Legumes -- or dry beans, peas, soybeans and lentils -- are significant iron food sources. Soybeans have about 33 percent DV, while lentils, chickpeas and white, navy, black, kidney, pinto and other dry beans contain over 20 percent DV in 1-cup servings. Dishes that combine beans and meat, such as franks and beans, enhance iron content and mineral absorption by your body, the NIH notes.
Green Vegetables
Green veggies deliver large amounts of dietary iron. Nutrient-dense spinach concentrates iron content when cooked, providing 33 percent DV in just 1 cup. Broccoli, kale and asparagus are among moderate-iron foods.
Fruits and Nuts
Dried fruits also contain concentrated iron, with raisins the better food source, followed by prunes and apricots. These fruits, along with nuts such as almonds and Brazil nuts, provide as much as 1 mg of iron per 1-oz. serving, according to the USDA. While this content is moderately low, eating dried fruits and nuts often will consistently bump up your iron levels.
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