What types of food should I eat for low iron deficiency?

I'm a vegetarian. My main sources of iron are

Beans and legumes
Quaker Corn Squares cereal (1 30g serving gives me 30% of my iron RDA)
Yves veggie dogs (15% of my iron RDA)

In addition, potatoes contain iron. I had 285g at lunch and got another 11% of my RDA

And various vegetables have small (1-5% of the RDA) amounts but they add up.

I track iron instead of sugar on my diary page, so it's easier to see.

estherdragonbat wrote: »

Quaker Corn Squares cereal (1 30g serving gives me 30% of my iron RDA)

RDA is defined as "average daily level of intake sufficient to meet the nutrient requirements of nearly all (97%–98%) healthy individuals" (see https://ods.od.nih.gov/factsheets/Iron-HealthProfessional/).

However, a) those needs vary, sometimes quite significantly, b) they are specifically stated for nonvegetarians. The second part is important because eating animal based food helps your body to absorb plant-based food as well (and the other way around, because plants also provide important substances).

The table listed on the website states (snipped the relevant portion):
(male/female/pregnancy/lactation)
14–18 years: 11 mg / 15 mg / 27 mg / 10 mg
19–50 years 8 mg / 18 mg / 27 mg / 9 mg

First, note that what's stated is just iron, not absorbed iron. That's because the table carries an implicit assumption that the person will eat a varied diet, and absorption rate won't matter much. It usually does.

Second, what does 30% mean? 30% of 8 or 27 mg?

Iron fortified cereal usually have ~50-60 mg/100 g or iron, so 15-18 mg/30g. However, it is not very bioavailable so just a couple of percent will be absorbed. Furthermore, milk prevents iron absorption, and cereal are usually eaten with milk, so this drives the absorption further down. At 5%, this could be 0.75-0.9 mg of absorbed iron. At 2%, it could be 0.3 mg-0.36mg. If no animal-based products are available in the diet, it might be even less.

Menstruating women require around 2.4 mg of absorbed iron. So 30% suddenly becomes 12.5% of required daily intake. People with iron deficiency have no iron stores.

Eat meat. All of it.
Case closed.

ToriMalt wrote: »

Wow. Some of these answers are in-depth. Quick & easy answer: beans, greens like spinach, collard greens, turnip greens, broccoli, etc, red meat, rice, eggs, and some dairy products.

Sometimes it has to be more in depth because you could eat all the iron rich products you like but if you're drinking too much caffeine it's not going to solve anything and the OP is going to go round and round in circles, its better to make sure other vitamins are not too low either, the ones that help the body absorb iron.. also go see your doctor.

barbp7 wrote: »

A tablespoon of black strap molasses can provide 20% of daily iron. And is vegan.

Nutritional tables list around 5-13 mg iron/100g, so a tablespoon (15g) would have 0.75 mg-2mg. Since it's plant based (remains after extracting sugar from raw sugar cane), it would be absorbed at 2%-20%, so anywhere between 0.015mg and 0.4mg of absorbed iron, which can be less than 20%.

You also lose absorption support from animal based food.

Nikso2 wrote: »

Eat meat. All of it.
Case closed.

Open case

Get knocked up

Close case

I like my daily bowl of cereal to get my iron %

RamboKitty87 wrote: »

Cereal actually contains iron filings lol I found out on a tv show called food unwrapped:

Who wants some corn flakes now?
Thanks for sharing