Iron rich diet and alternate dosing

Hi everyone,

I just wondered what iron rich foods everyone eats (aside from taking iron pills)?

I try to eat more red meat, beef and chicken liver and canned sardines.

I take iron bisglycinate pills as they dont seem to trouble me too much. I cant stomach ferrous sulphate or fumarate which is what doctors love prescribing! My doctor did mention there was research out there that suggests taking pills on alternate days could be better for absorption and has the upside of being able to tolerate side effects better, so I will try this with my iron bisglycinate. 

Below is one study to support the alternate does idea:

Taking iron supplements every other day instead of daily is associated with increased iron absorption in women with low iron levels, suggests a small study in Lancet Haematology.

Roughly 40 women with depleted iron stores (serum ferritin 25 µg/L or less) but not moderate or severe anemia were assigned to receive iron (60 mg FeSO4) either on consecutive days for 2 weeks or alternate days for 4 weeks. Two weeks after treatment, the alternate-day group had higher fractional iron absorption (22% vs. 16% in the consecutive-day group) and total iron absorption (175 vs. 131 mg).

Next, 20 women received either once-daily dosing (120 mg) or half a dose twice a day, and then crossed over to the other regimen. In this case, absorption levels didn't differ between regimens, leading the authors to say that dividing doses "in an attempt to increase iron absorption is unnecessary."

Commentators write that these results "are likely to lead to a more felicitous means of administering this widely used therapy."

0 likes, 4 replies