Dietary iron is essential to human life. Fortunately, food sources for daily doses of iron are many and varied. Iron-rich foods are divided into two classes, heme iron, which comes from animal hemoglobin, and non-heme iron, which is derived from grains, legumes, leafy greens, some fruits, and fortified food products. The Food and Drug Administration sets average iron intake recommendations at 18mg, the daily value (DV) for ages 4 and up. The U.S. Department of Agriculture standardizes serving sizes for measuring iron content.
Animal Sources
Some of the highest daily doses of heme iron--70 percent DV--come from chicken and turkey livers (4 oz., about 13mg), with beef cuts such as chuck, tenderloin and eye of round (3 oz., 2 to 3mg) contributing 10 to 20 percent. Chicken and turkey meat (4 oz.) have more than 1mg of dietary iron, providing low but significant levels. Most cuts of pork (3oz) have less than 1mg.
Mollusks are iron-rich foods, and fish and crustaceans (3 oz.) are good heme iron sources as well. Oysters (6mg) and clams (3mg) have substantial heme iron, while shrimp and fish such as halibut, salmon and tuna contain 1mg or less.
Plant Sources
A 1-cup serving of legumes, especially soybeans (9mg, 50 percent DV), provide the highest levels of non-heme dietary iron. Lentils and kidney beans are next (7mg, 5mg), followed by lima, navy, pinto and black beans (4 or 5mg each). A 1/2-cup serving of cooked fresh spinach provides 3mg of iron and also is considered an iron-rich food.
Blackstrap molasses, made from sugar cane, has 20 percent of the daily dose of iron in just 1 tbsp.. Semisweet chocolate chips have more than 5mg of iron in a large, 8-oz serving, while a milk chocolate bar (1.55 oz) contains about 1mg. Raisins (1/2 cup) provide 2mg, or 4 percent DV of iron.
Fortified Foods
Some food products have iron added to them in processing. These include foods made from enriched cornmeal and wheat flour, such as grits (2mg of iron in 1 cup) and breads (1 slice white or wheat, 1 mg).
Fortified oatmeal and ready-to-eat cereals have the highest concentrations of dietary iron, with 3/4-cup servings containing from 25 percent to 100 percent of the recommended daily dose. These iron-rich foods include oat, bran, puffed wheat and rice cereals.
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