Cast Iron Skillet for Iron Deficiency?

GloriaBJN

My nutrients are showing low for iron, and I read that too little iron can cause hair loss. As a senior I find iron supplements put me way over my daily recommended amount per MyFitnessPal. I don't know how the program determines the right daily amount for me, but I register habitually a 50%+ deficiency. Google search took me to healthline.com which says anyone over 51 should have 8 mg/day.

Has anyone tried using a cast iron skillet to supplement iron with success? Research is found here: https://whatscookingamerica.net/information/ironcastiron.htm . I've searched cast iron in MyFitnessPal and haven't found any positive comments about cooking in cast iron for an iron supplement. I assume there's no way of gauging intake when cooking with cast iron, but there's a chart showing the increase of intake cooking different foods in a cast iron skillet, found in the link provided, and some are significant. I just think it's worth adding to my regiment as opposed to taking a pill. Thoughts on this?

https://whatscookingamerica.net/information/ironcastiron.htm

Alatariel75

Just FYI, a vast number of entries in the database don't have the nutrients entered, either because the person adding them wasn't tracking or - more likely - the information wasn't included on the label. Generally, unless you are confirming that every entry you use has accurate information for nutrients, the totals for your nutrient tracking are almost certainly understated.

To determine whether you actually have a deficiency and to set your iron target, a GP is much, much more reliable than MFP.

SuzySunshine99

Definitely do not self-diagnose an iron deficiency. Especially if you are basing that on the MFP food database, which is often wrong or incomplete.

If you suspect a deficiency, have your doctor do a blood test, as that’s the only way to know for sure.

Too much iron can be very harmful, so do not supplement without that blood test result.

GloriaBJN

Sorry I don't understand the shorts, what is MFP and GP?

Alatariel75

GloriaBJN wrote: »

Sorry I don't understand the shorts, what is MFP and GP?

MFP = My Fitness Pal
GP = General Practitioner.

In short, don't trust MyFitnessPal to tell you how much iron you're consuming and therefore whether you need more - if you're concerned about a deficiency, see your Doctor for tests and have them advise on how much you should be consuming per day.

westrich20940

As others have stated, My Fitness Pal is really only 'accurate' for calories I've seen entries that are inaccurate for everything else (actually including calories lol)...it's user generated.

And many people are simply not putting in any other info other than macros/cals.

Also, you have no idea whether or not you are deficient in iron based on whether or not you are meeting the recommended daily value of iron. You need to be tested to actually SEE if your iron is low.

I have no idea about using a cast iron pan to supplement iron, but for anyone else thinking they may also be low in iron -- iron is NOT a supplement that you want to be taking if you are not deficient. It can cause a lot of issues if you have too much. So make sure if you are planning on supplementing, it's under the direction of a physician.

GloriaBJN

GTK. lol. Good to know. And I thought I had found this amazing tool. MFP has actually helped me assess too much Vitamin A. I blame the spinach salads. And too little Potassium when I'm not eating potatoes or bananas. I never thought about so much NOT factoring into the tally. I guess I'll save my cast iron use until after my blood work.

AnnPT77

GloriaBJN wrote: »

GTK. lol. Good to know. And I thought I had found this amazing tool. MFP has actually helped me assess too much Vitamin A. I blame the spinach salads. And too little Potassium when I'm not eating potatoes or bananas. I never thought about so much NOT factoring into the tally. I guess I'll save my cast iron use until after my blood work.

Many entries for foods that do have potassium, don't list potassium in the database. It's not required to be on food labels in the US generally, so even if MFP users conscientiously enter data correctly from the food label, potassium may be understated because of that.

As far as Vitamin A, getting excess from foods in which it's inherent (as beta carotene, such as in leafy greens, among other things) is not very dangerous. However, preformed vitamin A, from supplements or fortified foods, can be. That's oversimplifying, but there's a bunch of information about that in the document linked below, including tolerable upper limits as established by the US National Academies of Science Food & Nutrition Board.

https://ods.od.nih.gov/factsheets/VitaminA-HealthProfessional/

There are similar fact sheets for other nutrients, so if you're short on potassium or food-source iron, that might be helpful information. Iron is similar to Vitamin A, in the sense that it makes a difference whether you get higher amounts from foods that inherently contain it (relatively safer) vs. from supplements (relatively more risky).

https://ods.od.nih.gov/factsheets/Iron-HealthProfessional/
https://ods.od.nih.gov/factsheets/Potassium-HealthProfessional/

There are versions of those documents aimed at consumers (vs. professionals), too, but I find them less informative. They're linked near the top of each of the "for professionals" documents, though.

GloriaBJN

Argh, I've bought Potassium and Vitamin A supplements. I'm going off everything now except my multivitamins and a few other supplements I know I need. I've probably been over-supplementing even before I started looking at MFP's nutritional chart.

cmriverside

There is quite a bit of Potassium in all fruit and vegetables, as well as in beans, dairy, nuts, chicken, salmon - not just bananas or potatoes. If you're eating 3-6 servings a day you're probably fine.

I'd suggest vetting the foods you use from the Myfitnesspal database against some more reliable source like the USDA food database. Go to USDA's database and then choose, "SR Legacy Foods."
https://fdc.nal.usda.gov/fdc-app.html#/

kshama2001

I'm anemic and cosign the recommendation to not supplement with iron before getting bloodwork.

I don't rely on food alone to get the iron I need, but do notice that many USER-created food entries have incorrect or missing iron counts. For example, manufacturers may list iron in grams, but MFP uses percents, and I have seen when people create an entry and do bother to fill in iron, they use the gram value rather than the %, resulting in a much lower number. Often people do not bother to fill in micros at all.

I've never noticed a problem with micros on ADMIN-created entries, so try to use these as much as possible.

Unfortunately, the green check marks in the MFP database are used for both USER-created entries and ADMIN-created entries that MFP pulled from the USDA database. A green check mark for USER-created entries just means enough people have upvoted the entry - it is not necessarily correct.

To find ADMIN entries for whole foods, I get the syntax from the USDA database and paste that into MFP. All ADMIN entries from the USDA will have weights as an option BUT there is a glitch whereby sometimes 1g is the option but the values are actually for 100g. This is pretty easy to spot though, as when added the calories are 100x more than is reasonable.

https://fdc.nal.usda.gov

Use the “SR Legacy” tab - that seems to be what MFP used to pull in entries.

Note: any MFP entry that includes "USDA" was USER entered.

For packaged foods, I verify the label against what I find in MFP. (Alas, you cannot just scan with your phone and assume what you get is correct.)

kshama2001

GloriaBJN wrote: »

My nutrients are showing low for iron, and I read that too little iron can cause hair loss. As a senior I find iron supplements put me way over my daily recommended amount per MyFitnessPal. I don't know how the program determines the right daily amount for me, but I register habitually a 50%+ deficiency. Google search took me to healthline.com which says anyone over 51 should have 8 mg/day.

Has anyone tried using a cast iron skillet to supplement iron with success? Research is found here: https://whatscookingamerica.net/information/ironcastiron.htm . I've searched cast iron in MyFitnessPal and haven't found any positive comments about cooking in cast iron for an iron supplement. I assume there's no way of gauging intake when cooking with cast iron, but there's a chart showing the increase of intake cooking different foods in a cast iron skillet, found in the link provided, and some are significant. I just think it's worth adding to my regiment as opposed to taking a pill. Thoughts on this?

https://whatscookingamerica.net/information/ironcastiron.htm

I've become very unwell several times when my anemia was not managed properly, and was using cast iron before, during, and after.

Additionally, more iron is absorbed from cast iron pans when one is not using cast iron normally - brand new pans, for acidic foods, for applesauce.

Cooking acidic foods in cast iron can impart metallic flavors and ruin the finish. So while you can indeed get more iron, you are also ruining your food and damaging your pan.

https://www.americastestkitchen.com/guides/cook-it-in-cast-iron/busting-cast-iron-myths

See:

• What Not to Cook in Cast Iron
• Does Cooking With Cast Iron Give You Iron?

cwolfman13

Iron isn't required to be put on food labels and labels are where most entries come from...if it's not on the label it won't be in the database entry. Beyond that, a lot of users only care about calories and macros so they don't bother entering other micro-nutrition. MFP in general is not particularly great for monitoring micro-nutrition.

If you are concerned about an actual deficiency, go see a Dr. and have your blood work done.

GloriaBJN

kshama2001 wrote: »

I'm anemic and cosign the recommendation to not supplement with iron before getting bloodwork.

I don't rely on food alone to get the iron I need, but do notice that many USER-created food entries have incorrect or missing iron counts. For example, manufacturers may list iron in grams, but MFP uses percents, and I have seen when people create an entry and do bother to fill in iron, they use the gram value rather than the %, resulting in a much lower number. Often people do not bother to fill in micros at all.

I've never noticed a problem with micros on ADMIN-created entries, so try to use these as much as possible.

Unfortunately, the green check marks in the MFP database are used for both USER-created entries and ADMIN-created entries that MFP pulled from the USDA database. A green check mark for USER-created entries just means enough people have upvoted the entry - it is not necessarily correct.

To find ADMIN entries for whole foods, I get the syntax from the USDA database and paste that into MFP. All ADMIN entries from the USDA will have weights as an option BUT there is a glitch whereby sometimes 1g is the option but the values are actually for 100g. This is pretty easy to spot though, as when added the calories are 100x more than is reasonable.

https://fdc.nal.usda.gov

Use the “SR Legacy” tab - that seems to be what MFP used to pull in entries.

Note: any MFP entry that includes "USDA" was USER entered.

For packaged foods, I verify the label against what I find in MFP. (Alas, you cannot just scan with your phone and assume what you get is correct.)

What do you mean: "To find ADMIN entries for whole foods, I get the syntax from the USDA database and paste that into MFP". It's good to know about the green check mark. I've never seen one for white bread and so many other search words.

lynn_glenmont

GloriaBJN wrote: »

kshama2001 wrote: »

I'm anemic and cosign the recommendation to not supplement with iron before getting bloodwork.

I don't rely on food alone to get the iron I need, but do notice that many USER-created food entries have incorrect or missing iron counts. For example, manufacturers may list iron in grams, but MFP uses percents, and I have seen when people create an entry and do bother to fill in iron, they use the gram value rather than the %, resulting in a much lower number. Often people do not bother to fill in micros at all.

I've never noticed a problem with micros on ADMIN-created entries, so try to use these as much as possible.

Unfortunately, the green check marks in the MFP database are used for both USER-created entries and ADMIN-created entries that MFP pulled from the USDA database. A green check mark for USER-created entries just means enough people have upvoted the entry - it is not necessarily correct.

To find ADMIN entries for whole foods, I get the syntax from the USDA database and paste that into MFP. All ADMIN entries from the USDA will have weights as an option BUT there is a glitch whereby sometimes 1g is the option but the values are actually for 100g. This is pretty easy to spot though, as when added the calories are 100x more than is reasonable.

https://fdc.nal.usda.gov

Use the “SR Legacy” tab - that seems to be what MFP used to pull in entries.

Note: any MFP entry that includes "USDA" was USER entered.

For packaged foods, I verify the label against what I find in MFP. (Alas, you cannot just scan with your phone and assume what you get is correct.)

What do you mean: "To find ADMIN entries for whole foods, I get the syntax from the USDA database and paste that into MFP". It's good to know about the green check mark. I've never seen one for white bread and so many other search words.

The USDA database is at the URL kshama2001 pasted in, fdc.nal.usda.gov

Search there to find the food you're looking for. I tend to rely on this more for generic/commodity/whole foods (fresh produce, eggs, milk, and shelf-stable foods that are essentially the same across manufacturers, like oats, rice, plain nuts, and dried beans -- although I use the "beans, [specific variety], mature seeds, cooked" entries).

You'll find that the USDA database tends to use lengthy, very specific strings to describe some foods -- although for produce it's more typically something like "apples, raw" or "onions, raw." Copy and paste the exact text string from the USDA database describing the food, then paste it into the MFP search field (I find this all a lot easier to do on my computer than my phone, although of course after you've logged it once it's easy to find it on the mobile app).

Typically, if the first return is an exact match, it's admin-entered and reflects the USDA database, but I try to always compare it to the USDA database to be sure. One good indicator, though, if I'm doing it on the fly from my phone, is if the MFP entry has serving size options that are both volume and weight, or by the "piece" (e.g., 7"-9" ear of corn or one cherry tomato) -- entries with different kinds of units for serving size pretty much have to be admin-entered. Users can't create entries with multiple serving sizes (although MFP has sometimes expanded them so that an entry originally created with a weight serving size will have multiple weight options, say 100 g and 30 g and 1 g and 1 oz.). Another good indicator is non-round numbers for nutrients, say 3.2 g of protein and 17.1% of calcium RDA. User-created entries tend to have round numbers, or skip some nutrients altogether.

cmriverside

...just to further elaborate on lynn_glenmont's post:

Once you use an item one time it will then be in your "Recent" foods list for that meal when you go to Add Food the next time. You really only have to vet something through the USDA the first time you use it.

If you can't find one quickly in the myfitnesspal database, just make a new entry. Then it will be in your My Foods list forevermore going forward and will be easy to access that way.

I rarely look up a food in the database. I tend to eat a lot of the same whole foods and they are all already in my Recents lists.

It takes a little time in the beginning but it's worth the effort. I had to find or create all my foods in grams, so that took me a while as I used new foods but now it's easy.