Ironing Out Iron

Ferrous Facts

You remember iron, from your Science class in high school? Might have gotten maybe 3-4 lines under the Vitamins and Minerals section? You read enough to pass the test and never gave it much thought afterwards. Now your doctor casually mentioned you might be anemic so you stroll to the vitamin section of your health food store to be confronted by a WALL of iron.

Ferrous, ferric, gluconate, sulfate? Who knew there was so much to iron?

Allow me to re-introduce you to Iron.

Iron is a mineral your body uses to help carry oxygen and electrons. In the body, it is either functional or stored. Functional iron is found in red blood cells as hemoglobin or in the muscles as myoglobin. Iron is usually stored as ferritin or hemosiderin in the intestinal mucosa, liver, spleen and bone marrow. Iron is very important for muscle growth, neurological development, cellular functioning and hormone synthesis.

Despite how important iron is to your body, Iron is not produced naturally by the body. Your body depends on your to choose iron-rich foods so that it can absorb iron from your intestinal tract based on your body’s needs. So, where do we get iron? Well, you can sneak it in your food or swallow it in tablet form. Dietary iron is availble in two forms; heme and non-heme iron. Heme iron is found in meat, seafood and poultry, non-heme iron (which I hereby name Veggie Iron) is found in enriched grains, dark green leafy vegetables, figs, raisins, seaweeds. Heme iron is reasonably well absorbed and more bioavailable than non heme iron.

Iron supplements are needed when there is an iron deficiancy (inadequate diet or malabsorption) or when there are increasded demands (menustration, pregnancy, injury). Early symptoms of iron deficiancy (anemia) are usually vague but you can easily check your symptoms at home. Look in a mirror and pull your lower eye-lid down. The inside of your eye-lid should be dark pink or red; a light pink or pale color usually indicates an iron deficiancy. Pay attention too if you find yourself easily fatigued. Sometimes your nails might appear to split or spoon shaped (with a depression large enough to hold a drop of water).

 Supplemental iron is usually available as ferrous or ferric salts. Ferrous salts are 3 times better absorbed than ferric salts. All iron products tend to irritate the gastro-intestinal mucosa and may result in nausea, abdominal pain, constipation and (less frequently) diarrhea.

To reduce these side effects, you may choose supplements with carbonyl iron, iron polypeptides, iron amino acid chelates or polysaccharide iron complexes. Because constipation is a popular side effect of iron treatment, there are some formulations out now that also contain a stool softener.

I’m purposefully not supplying examples of such products ‘cos I want to encourage you to read the label.