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Daily iron intake for older women

maryedoherty377
maryedoherty377 Posts: 1 Member
edited December 2024 in Food and Nutrition
I'm interested in more detail for how much iron for post menopausal women. I don't take iron in the vitamin and my daily iron is currently widely variable. Any experience on that?

Replies

  • TeaBea
    TeaBea Posts: 14,517 Member
    Keep in mind lots of food entries here are manually entered. Some of those entries may be incomplete, especially with regard to micros. So you may actually be getting enough iron.

    That said, I battle with my iron. I give blood regularly so I know what my hematocrit level is. Take care when adding iron supplements. Too much iron can be dangerous. My one a day (Centrum Silver for Women) has a decent amount of iron. If your one a day doesn't have a child proof cap - it won't have iron.

    Food sources for iron: http://www.webmd.com/diet/iron-rich-foods#1

    Take iron with vitamin C to help absorption. A lot of calcium can reduce absorption.

  • Abby2205
    Abby2205 Posts: 253 Member
    I use this reference, which recommends 8 mg per day for post menopausal women over 50.
    http://www.healthlinkbc.ca/healthfiles/hfile68c.stm
  • JeromeBarry1
    JeromeBarry1 Posts: 10,179 Member
    https://ods.od.nih.gov/factsheets/Iron-Consumer/#h2 "Adults 51 years and older 8 mg"
  • JeromeBarry1
    JeromeBarry1 Posts: 10,179 Member
    edited August 2016
    When I edit a food database entry, I use the amount of iron recommended for a woman of child-bearing age to create the Iron %RDA value. Beans and beef are good sources of iron.
  • fr33sia12
    fr33sia12 Posts: 1,258 Member
    Remember you use iron up too during exercise, so if you do a lot of exercise you may need more.
This discussion has been closed.

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