Does eating meat regularly correct iron deficiency?

BlondeBeauty5
BlondeBeauty5 Posts: 334 Member
in Food and Nutrition
I have an iron deficiency. My ferritin is at 5.8 and I'm almost anemic. This happened from years of basically being a vegetarian and having my period. I don't have a heavy flow (It's 4 days but the 4th day is mostly spotting). It's still blood loss though.

The only meat I've eaten over the years is hotdogs, ham sandwiches, and pepperoni on pizza. Recently I started eating ground turkey meat in the form of meatballs with pasta but it's not very often. Maybe once a week at the most and I didn't eat very much of it.

A couple days ago, I had pasta with ground turkey meatballs again but this time, I ate less of the pasta and more of the meat. I actually had a good amount of meat this time. I also had lima beans and corn with it. And I had a Vitamin C rich popsicle with it since Vitamin C helps iron absorption. I felt less shortness of breath and felt less like I was gonna pass out all night and even now a few days later, I still don't feel as out of breath as I did before that meal.

I've read that eating red meat 3 times a week with a Vitamin C rich food helps correct anemia on its own. I don't like red meat except for beef hotdogs (if that counts) but does this work with ground turkey meat? I know that heme iron from meat absorbs like 15 times better than iron from other sources. So if you eat heme iron even if it's turkey meat and not red meat 3-4 times a week would it correct this iron deficiency?

I have anxiety which prevents me from taking any kind of iron supplements and I can't handle iron infusions.
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Replies

  • thelittlecharacter
    thelittlecharacter Posts: 69 Member
    If you're almost anemic, you should focus on replenishing those iron stores with green leafy veggies, lean meats, and about 46 grams or more of iron-rich whole grains per day. And yes, deffo maintain Vitamin C intake throughout the day to help with the absorption. Meats, fish, and poultry will have the best sources of iron per serving. Eggs and legumes have a bit as well. So remember, lean meats, fortified cereals, and green veggies. Sounds like you're improving with how you're treating it (:
  • ForeverSunshine09
    ForeverSunshine09 Posts: 966 Member
    I suffer anemia from my kidney disease but, now that I eat some sort of meat every other day and spinach it doesn't seem to affect me as much.
  • JiveDoc
    JiveDoc Posts: 284 Member
    To maximize your vegetarian options as far as absorption goes, go for beans or lentils + vitamin-C rich foods such as tomatoes. The vitamin C increases absorption of the iron about six-fold. Non-veggie options: shellfish, such as oysters and clams, are better than almost any other animal source.

    Have you identified the source of your anxiety surrounding iron supplementation? If you're anemic this is obviously the best way to go.
  • blmcl6
    blmcl6 Posts: 2
    Meat will help, but there are ways to get your iron stores back to normal without it if you don't want to eat meat. If you're fine with it, ground turkey is a start. Lean chicken breast is good too. Limit your red meat intake as eating that regularly can cause its own problems. I know you mentioned you don't like spinach, but if you'll try some new things maybe buying baby spinach instead of regular (less chewy and you don't have to pull the stems off), wilting it and adding it to a rice or quinoa meal is a good way to eat it. Lentils are cheap and easy to cook and mix in things like soup. Also fortified cereals mentioned before are great easy ways to get a lot of nutrients without taking a vitamin. Something like cheerios. I'd be willing to bet many of your mineral and nutrient levels are down based on some of the foods you say you eat. Also, doctors aren't really the best resource for nutrition related problems. Check to see if you're covered by insurance to visit a registered dietitian. Good luck.
  • themeaningofthemorning
    themeaningofthemorning Posts: 320 Member
    feramax has a liquid suspension. with ferritin that low you need a high dosage supplement. to put it in perspective, my ferritin was at 7 and with eating meat EVERY DAY and taking an iron supplement of 150 mg elemental iron, i still only increased my ferritin by 13 points in 8 weeks.
  • punchgut
    punchgut Posts: 210 Member
    The bioavailability of iron from plant based sources is minimal compared to red meat. In general, red meat will be the best, but you will also gain from Turkey. Not nearly as much in turkey though. A 3 oz serving of beef will have 14% or your daily amount of iron, whereas the same amount of turkey will have 3%.

    http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17982706
  • happykelly209
    happykelly209 Posts: 29 Member
    thelittlecharacter wrote: »
    If you're almost anemic, you should focus on replenishing those iron stores with green leafy veggies, lean meats, and about 46 grams or more of iron-rich whole grains per day. And yes, deffo maintain Vitamin C intake throughout the day to help with the absorption. Meats, fish, and poultry will have the best sources of iron per serving. Eggs and legumes have a bit as well. So remember, lean meats, fortified cereals, and green veggies. Sounds like you're improving with how you're treating it (:

    I agree.. I went vegan for a few years and also struggle with anemia... After starting to track I noticed that my protein was very low and my carbs and sugars were high. I added fish (high in iron) and chicken back in to make it easier for me to make sure I get my recommended protein every day. Making these changes and maybe some others have helped to correct my anemia also my nails have gotten strong for the first time ever.
  • malovafarms
    malovafarms Posts: 78 Member
    I was down at a 2 for ferritin at one point my late twenties due to heavy periods... diet (and believe me I ate everything from elk meat to plate fulls of cooked spinach
    ) wasn't enough alone when your that close o anemia.. feromax is a great elemental iron supplement that didn't hurt the gut to much .. expensive but worth it... cut back bread, black tea and dairy especially around the times taking your iron they block absorption. If you wanna go more natural supplements instead if feromax because there is a cpl weird ingredients in there get a supplement with desiccated liver in there.. for real. I didn't mess around and started feromax three times a day after a blood transfusion.
  • ForeverSunshine09
    ForeverSunshine09 Posts: 966 Member
    BlondeBeauty5 wrote: »
    AmberSue09 wrote: »
    I suffer anemia from my kidney disease but, now that I eat some sort of meat every other day and spinach it doesn't seem to affect me as much.

    That's great! What kind of meat do you eat, if you don't mind me asking?

    I eat all kinds of meat chicken, pork, beef, turkey. I know some seafoods have higher iron concentration but, I can't stand the smell of seafood. Every anemia case is different. Mine is secondary to my kidney disease so when I have that in check the anemia naturally gets better.
  • rainbowbow
    rainbowbow Posts: 7,490 Member
    I was having this issue as well consistently along with deficiency in vitamin D and B. I was taking iron supplements which are HELLISH on my stomach and consistently making me sick to the point i dont even want to take them.

    Turns out I had a thyroid problem which was impairing my body's ability to absorb vitamins.

    If you're actually consuming enough iron in your diet and your levels are still low, maybe you have something else going on.

    I personally cant digest meat, but DO consume enough iron in fortified foods.
  • rainbowbow
    rainbowbow Posts: 7,490 Member
    OP, I know this sounds gimmickey as well, but when i tried Spatone i had great results as well.

    It's water from a spring that is naturally high in iron. It's only like 30% of your DV but it's easily absorbed and i had absolutely ZERO negative effects taking it. I just added it to a half cup of OJ in the morning and was good to go. :)

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