Plant-based Sources of Iron

With many people going on a plant-based/vegan or vegetarian diet, it is important to consider possible deficiencies, and iron is a common one, especially for menstruating women. Not everyone has a tendency to low iron, but many women do, and plant-iron can be harder to absorb than iron from meat. I have noticed many women who tend toward being yogic types even when they eat some meat, can have chronically low iron levels, and this has flow on effects as the whole body works less well when there is not sufficient iron, or it is not well absorbed.

It helps to know what sort of plants are higher in iron, such as in the picture above.

It helps to have good strong digestion, so you are absorbing your minerals from your food adequately. Herbal bitters with meals can help with that.

It helps to have food sources of Vitamin C with food sources of iron, as Vitamin C enhances absorption.

And if you have chronically low iron, I recommend you do something about it, because it sucks to walk around feeling exhausted all the time, or run on adrenalin. Iron levels can deplete fairly rapidly but they can be very challenging to raise again, even with sufficient iron in the diet, or even reverting back to eating red meat.

You can take super strong pharmacy iron- yuk- but sometimes necessary for some people.
You can get an iron transfusion- which can be hugely beneficial if nothing else has worked (actually I recommend these for those with low ferritin because they are the best way to get levels up again quickly, and can make a substantial difference in women’s health and energy levels).
Or you can take herbal and gentle, highly absorbable forms of iron as a long term solution- but still get your iron levels tested now and again.

One thing worth knowing is that if you take iron daily in tablet form, your iron uptake receptors will down-regulate, because the body knows too much iron is also not good. It has been shown in studies that taking an iron supplements 3 times a week can be better for uptake than taking it daily.

As I am doing a vegan diet at the moment, I have decided to take a gentle low dose iron tablet once a week preventatively, as I have a tendency to lower iron. As I am post-menopausal, hopefully that is plenty, but I will monitor it, because too much iron is also not good.

NB: I lasted less than 3 months on the vegan diet because my ferritin dropped from 90 to 40 in 8 weeks, and I have a history of chronically low iron. I did not want it to go any lower because I know how hard it is to re-establish healthy levels. I was taking an iron supplement, and I was well educated as to the best nutrient dense vegan meals, and I don’t mind eating like that. And it still didn’t work for me- again. I thrive on a nutrient dense diet with a range of whole plant foods, as well as dairy, meat (nose to tail), and seafood.