Keeping your body’s iron level up lowers your risk of developing anemia, a condition that causes fatigue and muscle weakness. It also lowers your ability to resist illness. Your doctor might suggest a blood test to determine if your iron levels are dangerously low. Adding an iron supplement is one way to maintain healthy iron levels, but the potential consequences of over-using iron pills include diabetes and liver damage. If your doctor approves, raise your iron levels by eating food rich in the mineral, and plan your health regimen to maximize the iron you get from those foods.
Increase Iron-Rich Foods
The most obvious way to increase your iron level is to eat more foods that naturally contain iron. The nutrient in animal-based foods is heme iron, while plant-based foods contain non-heme iron. Your body more readily absorbs heme iron. The foods rich in heme iron include liver, oysters and other shellfish, as well as beef, fish and poultry. Non-heme iron sources include molasses, legumes, dried beans, seeds, nuts, spinach and other leafy green vegetables.
Buy Fortified Grains
Choose grains labeled “fortified” or “enriched” when buying cereals and bread, suggests the Office of Dietary Supplements at the National Institute of Health. A serving of hot and cold cereals fortified with extra iron provides as much as 100 percent of the iron you need for the day. Iron-enriched bread, grits and cereal provide 6 to 8 percent of the recommended daily amount of iron.
Add Vitamin C
You will absorb more iron from non-heme foods if you pair your iron-rich food source with another food rich in vitamin C, advises the University of Maryland Medical Center. Citrus fruits and citrus juice, as well as tomatoes and tomato juice, provide vitamin C. The non-heme iron in spinach, for example, becomes more available if you add tomatoes to your spinach omelet, and pair the dish with orange juice.
Divide and Conquer
While you need calcium to maintain strong bones and teeth, the mineral can interfere with non-heme iron absorption when eating calcium-rich foods in the same meal as non-heme iron foods, according to UMMC. Whenever possible, eat calcium sources like yogurt, cheese and milk at different meals than those in which iron is the star attraction. Similarly, compounds in bran and tea decrease the amount of non-heme iron you get from plant-based foods; have those foods at separate times.
Use Protein
Meat not only provides heme iron on its own, but also contains proteins that boost the amount of non-heme iron you absorb from foods like spinach and legumes. Unless you’re a vegetarian, consider pairing your heme and non-heme iron foods to boost the amount of the mineral you absorb from the latter.
Ditch the Junk
Sugary sodas, cereals and desserts not only pose well-known risks like weight gain, tooth decay and diabetes, but also make you less likely to eat foods rich in iron, according to the ODS. While sugar doesn’t block your iron absorption the way calcium does, it decreases the likelihood that you will eat the vegetables, dairy products and lean proteins that contribute iron.
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