Iron Supplement

beth69tx

I've always bruised easily and the last 3 times I've tried to donate blood, they turned me away because my iron count was too low. In the last month, I've been eating mostly chicken, turkey, and fish with little red meat. Would you recommend an iron supplement?

FoodandFitness

You'll need to supplement with 18mg of iron.

This amount is often included in a women's multivitamin tablet. I would recommend just finding a multi vitamin that has this in it (or just ask the pharmacist for an over the counter prenatal vitamin with iron) Iron absorption is enhanced in the presence of vitamin C. So the multivitamin will have both.

Also foods like red meats and spinach tend to have a higher iron content. Here's a meal idea:

Spaghetti squash with lean ground beef and spaghetti sauce with a side salad of spinach. The iron in the beef and spinach will be enhanced by the vitamin C in the spaghetti sauce.