Iron: Where can I find it and What does it do?

Hi all,

I am needing to up my iron intake, but I don't know what food sources to get it from. I know that spinach has Iron, but I think I'd have to eat an entire bag to meet my daily intake needs.

Also, what is the primary benefit of iron? Is it for the blood stream? Muscles? Who, what....?  All I know is that I need it...

Thanks.

Foods that are a good source of iron include:

• liver
• lean red meats, including beef, pork, lamb
• seafood, such as oysters, clams, tuna, salmon, and shrimp, etc.
• beans, including kidney, lima, navy, black, pinto, soy beans, and lentils
• iron fortified whole grains, including cereals, breads, rice, and pasta
• greens, including collard greens, kale, mustard greens, spinach, and turnip greens
• tofu
• vegetables, including broccoli, swiss chard, asparagus, parsley, watercress, brussel sprouts
• chicken and turkey
• blackstrap molasses
• nuts
• egg yolks
• dried fruits, such as raisins, prunes, dates and apricots

Iron can be found in most dark green leafy vegetables, tofu, beans, lentils, fish, poultry and red meat. I'm a vegetarian, so I get most of mine from veggies and tofu. It's a very important nutrient to have. It is involved in many different processes in the body like cell growth, oxygen transport, etc. It's also very important for girls (I don't know if you are a girl or not) to have because it helps them develop reproductive organs and keep those processes healthy.

Sorry to be rambling on, but this was one of the few things I actually LEARNED in biology. :)

Iron for Health

Wow thanks everyone (I LOVE this site).

I know Easter is almost here, and I have been fasting against meat for lent, but plan on keeping my meat intake low for life.  I love veggies so I will monitar my intake that way, but what do you think of taking suppliments for iron?  Pros/Cons?

 Thanks for all the food ideas, I will try to fit them into my daily diet...oy that's always changing!

And you're not rambleing...I appreciate the help! :)

Thanks

Hi, at one point I was considered anemic.  (I've not been tested in years.)  I had to take 5 supplements a day, I don't remember how many mg.  But, there are bad complications to having too much Iron.  I would get tested by my doctor to get their opinion on if iron supplements are necessary and how much to take.  I hope this helps!

Hey, i am anaemic and have to take 3 iron tablets a day, with each tablet being 200mg! I think the RDA is like 15mg or less so 600mg is a lot!!! These were prescribed by my doc, as the other have said it can cause problems if you have too much iron aswell.

When i had low iron i just felt exhausted all the time no matter how much sleep i got, and i was cold all the time. Iron is used to make haemoglobin which transfer oxygen around the body. So if you don't have enough, you may have a lack of oxygen getting around the body which makes you tired!

When  i had my first blood test my ferrate (iron) level was 4 - this is very low as i think the normal is meant to be anywhere between 50 - 150+!!

Downsides of taking iron supplements - they can make you feel sick, i went off my food a bit because of this, and they make your stools black/greasy! gross i know.

There are 12,300,000 links to "foods with iron" if you'll Google it.