141 grams of iron too much?

coffee_fiend
coffee_fiend Posts: 49 Member
in Food and Nutrition
I can NEVER seem to be under or on target with iron! I am over 41 grams for today, for example. Could this be bad in my health??

Replies

  • SkepticallyFit
    SkepticallyFit Posts: 71
    I think you mean milligrams. If you're female, then it is extremely doubtful that consuming 141% of the recommended value will cause any harm. Although it depends on your specific circumstances. If you're male, it is also doubtful, but completely unnecessary unless you have other medical problems.

    (I assume you mean you are 41% above the recommended intake, and you don't actually mean that you're consuming 41 mg of iron a day.)
  • jennifershoo
    jennifershoo Posts: 3,198 Member
    :huh: the daily amount for women should be 18 mg.

    Your numbers seem way off.
  • coffee_fiend
    coffee_fiend Posts: 49 Member
    Whoops! Newbie question then - what measurement are the food diary totals in? That's what I'm going by. :P
  • susannamarie
    susannamarie Posts: 2,148 Member
    % daily value.
  • corgicake
    corgicake Posts: 846 Member
    Non-meat iron sources tend to not absorb as well so overshooting isn't necessarily a bad thing.
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  • ShengHuo
    ShengHuo Posts: 42
    141% of the DV is nothing to be concerned about. If I eat one serving of iron-fortified cereal, I end up over 100% for the day and men of my age (35) only need 50% of the DV (which is a figure based on a woman's daily needs). Heck you should see my Vitamin A and Vitamin C numbers. They're usually at 300-500%.

    Actually watch the Vitamin A. It stores in fat and can become toxic. I don't know at what point, but I'd try and look up how much extra is safe. Any extra Vitamin C is just peed out.
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  • neanderthin
    neanderthin Posts: 10,222 Member
    Actually watch the Vitamin A. It stores in fat and can become toxic. I don't know at what point, but I'd try and look up how much extra is safe. Any extra Vitamin C is just peed out.

    As far as I know, problems usually only arise with retinol or those who are supplementing with large amounts of Vitamin A. The vast majority of my Vitamin A intake is in the form of beta-carotene via veggies (e.g. carrots, sweet potatoes).
    Yup, pretty much that.
  • HollisGrant
    HollisGrant Posts: 2,022 Member
    Non-meat iron sources tend to not absorb as well so overshooting isn't necessarily a bad thing.

    True, but people can easily work around this.

    ".... you would have to eat more than 1700 calories of sirloin steak to get the same amount of iron as found in 100 calories of spinach.
    .....Vitamin C acts to markedly increase absorption of non-heme iron. Adding a vitamin C source to a meal increases non-heme iron absorption up to six-fold which makes the absorption of non-heme iron as good or better than that of heme iron 4.
    Fortunately, many vegetables, such as broccoli and bok choy, which are high in iron, are also high in vitamin C so that the iron in these foods is very well absorbed. Commonly eaten combinations, such as beans and tomato sauce or stir-fried tofu and broccoli, also result in generous levels of iron absorption."

    http://www.vrg.org/nutrition/iron.php

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