Your body needs iron to utilize oxygen and support metabolic function throughout your lifetime, but as you age, your requirements for this nutrient decrease. Women in their childbearing years, growing children and people who have an iron deficiency due to malnutrition or blood loss require higher amounts of iron than healthy senior citizens. As a senior, you should meet your requirements for iron only through dietary sources unless your doctor recommends you take iron supplements to compensate for a deficiency.
Health Risks
As a component of hemoglobin, iron transports oxygen through your bloodstream. Iron also contributes to healthy metabolic function and participates in chemical reactions in the body that produce energy. When you absorb too much iron from foods or supplements, your body stores the excess in your tissues and organs. Over time, high stores of iron may become toxic, causing fatigue, weakness, shortness of breath and abdominal pain. Eventually, iron overload may cause liver damage, heart failure, arthritis and other serious health complications. Hemochromatosis, a hereditary disease that causes your body to store too much iron, increases your risk of iron overload, especially if you're taking iron supplements, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Requirements
Before menopause, women need 18 mg of iron per day, but the recommended dietary allowance (RDA) for both women and men older than 50 decreases to 8 mg daily. Beef, fish, poultry, liver, eggs and milk are rich in heme iron, an animal-based form of this nutrient your body absorbs easily. Prune juice, fortified cereals, black-strap molasses, kidney beans, lentils and cashew nuts provide non-heme iron. In order to absorb this plant-based form of iron, your body requires vitamin C, preferably in a food eaten at the same meal. Oranges, grapefruit, bell peppers, broccoli and other fruits and vegetables provide vitamin C. A lack of iron or vitamin C in your diet may lead to iron deficiency anemia, a condition in which your body lacks healthy red blood cells.
Deficiency
Although senior citizens are at risk for iron deficiency, iron supplements may not resolve the underlying condition that causes the deficiency. Gastrointestinal bleeding, a deficiency of vitamin B12 or folate, leukemia or other disorders may cause a common form of anemia. Chronic diseases such as arthritis, cancer and hepatitis may also contribute to anemia. In an article published in the Oct. 1, 2000, issue of "American Family Physician," Dr. Douglas L. Smith notes iron supplementation may have no effect on anemia caused by chronic disease. In order to treat your iron deficiency correctly, consult your doctor for a complete medical evaluation before taking iron supplements.
Recommendations
High levels of stored iron may be more common than iron deficiencies in senior citizens, the Linus Pauling Institute notes. To avoid the health complications of iron overload, meet your daily requirements for iron by eating a combination of meat and non-meat foods that contain this essential nutrient. If you take a multivitamin supplement, you should not take a brand that includes iron before consulting your doctor.
References
- Linus Pauling Institute: Micronutrient Information Center: Iron
- "American Family Physician"; Anemia in the Elderly; Douglas L. Smith, M.D.; October 1, 2000
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: Hemochromatosis (Iron Storage Disease), Facts
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: Nutrition for Everyone: Basics: Iron and Iron Deficiency
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