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The iron file: worried that giving up meat means you've a date with anemia? Research shows it just isn't so - includes list of foods that are good sources of iron

Vegetarian Times, July, 1996 by Karin Horgan Sullivan

Worried that giving up meat means you've got a date with anemia? Research shows it just isn't so.

If you're over the age of 25, no doubt you remember those Geritol commercials that warned women they were at risk of developing "iron-poor blood." A generation of girls grew up with the firmly implanted idea that the only thing standing between them and anemia was a dark-colored bottle of iron-rich elixir.

As Geritol suggested in its ads, women are far more likely to develop iron-deficiency anemia than men. Vegetarian women who got the message may well wonder whether they've put themselves in double jeopardy. In a nation where meat is widely touted as the premium source of iron, vegetarian women routinely have been urged--by doctors, concerned mothers, well-meaning mates--to at least pop a daily iron pill, if not eat a bit of liver every now and then.

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Well, you can skip the liver and most likely the iron pills, too. It turns out that plant foods are a perfectly adequate source of iron, and for some women (and a lot of men), they may actually be a safer source than meat.

THE IMPORTANCE OF IRON

IRON IS CRITICAL to creating hemoglobin, the red pigment in blood cells that carries oxygen to the body's tissues, providing energy for the chemical reactions of all living cells. Without enough iron in your body, your tissues don't receive enough oxygen and iron-deficiency anemia can develop, leading to fatigue, paleness, headaches, dizziness and lowered immunity; children with anemia can suffer from impaired physical and mental development.

Iron is present in your body in two states: circulating and stored. Circulating iron is found mainly in your bloodstream. Stored iron is held in your tissues in a protein called ferritin; this iron is like a reserve tank of fuel, ready if necessary to replenish depleted levels of circulating iron. Fortunately, the body is adept at recycling iron, and we lose only a small amount each day--about 1 milligram (mg.)--mainly through intestinal blood loss and cells that are sloughed off. (Menstruating girls and women lose more, depending on how heavily they bleed each month.) To maintain sufficient levels of circulating iron in your body without depleting that emergency stash, you must consume enough iron to replace what's lost.

A quick look at the RDAs reveals the intake of iron recommended is considerably higher than the amount we lose (see "How Much Iron Do You Need?," page 64). That's because our bodies don't absorb all the iron found in food. Furthermore, dietary iron comes in two forms, and one is better absorbed than the other. Heme iron is found in red meat, poultry and fish, with red meat being a particularly abundant source; the body absorbs anywhere from 15 percent to 3 5 percent of heme iron. About 60 percent of the iron in, meat and all the iron in dairy I products. eggs and plant foods I is a more poorly absorbed form called non-heme iron; the body absorbs only 2 percent to 20 percent of non-heme iron. The variability in the absorption rates for both heme and non-heme iron is the result of one of nature's little miracles: The lower your iron levels, the more iron your body absorbs from food, keeping you in a precisely regulated state of balance.

Although heme iron absorption isn't affected much by other foods you eat, non-heme iron absorption is. Some constituents of food can inhibit the absorption of non-heme iron. Primarily, this includes polyphenols, such as tannins in tea, and phytates, found in whole grains, legumes, nuts and seeds. Eggs, milk, calcium and soy protein also have some inhibitory affect. (Fiber used to be believed to be an inhibitor, but more recent research indicates that it is not.)

Once again, though, nature has taken care of keeping things in balance. A modest amount of vitamin C--just 75 mg., about the amount in one orange or 6 ounces of orange juice--can double the absorption of non-heme iron. In fact, one Swedish study looked at the rate of non-heme absorption in a variety of meals, some meat-based and others vegetarian; the highest rate of absorption was seen in the vegetarian meal with a high content of vitamin C--even though the meal included such inhibitory foods as beans and cottage cheese (American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, March 1982). The citric, malic and tartaric acids found in fruits and vegetables also enhance absorption, though to a lesser degree than vitamin C, as do sauerkraut and fermented soy products, such as tempeh and miso.

WHO'S AT RISK?

DESPITE WIDESPREAD iron fortification, iron deficiency is the most common nutritional deficiency in the United States. In most cases, iron deficiency is the result of inadequate intake in the presence of increased need, says William Proulx, R.D., director of the dietetics program and an assistant professor of nutrition at Andrews University in Berrien Springs, Mich., who co-authored an article on iron in Nutrition Today (Feb. 1995).

The most likely to be iron deficient are children ages 6 months to 24 months, whose iron stores are insufficient to meet the demands of growth, which increase rapidly at this age, according to Ibrahim Parvanta, a public health nutritionist and iron specialist with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta. Roughly 9 percent of this age group is at least mildly iron deficient, if not necessarily anemic. Also at risk, says Parvanta, are pregnant women, because of their overall increased demand for nutrients, and adolescent girls and women of childbearing age, whose iron stores are depleted each month by menstruation.

The iron file: worried that giving up meat means you've a date with anemia? Research shows it just isn't so - includes list of foods that are good sources of iron

Vegetarian Times, July, 1996 by Karin Horgan Sullivan

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