Iron in Foods – The Natural Way
Iron is a mineral nutrient vital to all living things. Humans, plants, animals, even bacteria and cancer cells depend on iron for growth and survival. In the human body iron has many different functions, but the main role of iron is to assist with the transport of oxygen to tissues and muscle cells.
Your body can not make iron, so the only way you can obtain iron is to absorb it from the food you eat. This is why eating Iron Rich Foods is so crucial. The sources of iron can be split into two groups:
- Heme iron, which comes primarily from animal products rich in iron such as red meat, fish and poultry
- Non-heme iron, which comes primarily from iron rich plants such as grains, nuts, beans, legumes, vegetables and fruit
Meat contains both types of sources of iron listed above. About 55-60% of the iron in meat is non-heme; the rest is heme iron. Heme iron is easier absorbed by your body.
Iron in Foods – Iron shavings in Iron Fortified Foods?
Many people don’t get enough iron through their diet because they eat too much processed food where all the naturally occurring iron has been removed e.g. white bread has had all the iron naturally occurring in whole wheat removed from it. Or they simply don’t eat enough Iron Rich foods like red meat, oily fish or green leafy vegetables.
In comes modern technology – processed foods are being fortified by iron. A classic example of iron fortified foods is breakfast cereal. In fact, iron fortified breakfast cereal is magnetic!
Let me explain.
Whole-grain breakfast cereals incorporate whole wheat, corn, oats, barley and rice as their main ingredients none of which are terribly high in iron. Many cereal brands are therefore fortified with iron. Without the added iron, most breakfast cereals would contain about 1 to 2 mg of iron or about 5-10% of a typical daily iron need. When fortified, whole-grain cereals may deliver as much as 100 percent DV of iron.
Iron can be added to breakfast cereals in several food-grade forms. Most cereal manufacturers prefer to add particles of pure iron metal (called elemental iron or reduced iron) because elemental iron is stable in storage and does not affect the cereal’s flavor.
When adding iron to breakfast cereals the manufacturer needs to make a decision on what food-grade iron is added. And this decision is driven by a compromise between bioavailability of the added iron, compatibility of the added iron with the cereal, processing limitations and of course cost.
A good example is ferrous sulfate which has very high bioavailability i.e. your body easily absorbs it, but it typically discolors the cereal or can trigger the cereal to go rancid.
Not a good choice for a manufacturer.
So, the most common choice of iron used in iron fortified breakfast cereal is reduced iron powder. Reduced iron powder is dark, metallic grey, does not dissolve in water and magnetic and “generally recognized as safe” by the Food and Drug Administration.
To fortify a breakfast cereal, the iron, along with other vitamins and minerals, is first mixed in with the grains, salt, water and, if applicable, other flavoring agents and/or sweeteners. This mixture is then cooked. To create flakes, the cooked grains are flattened between rollers under tons of pressure. Once the flakes are made, the iron is well incorporated into the product and cannot be seen by the consumer.
Iron in Foods – Don’t like the Idea of eating iron shavings?
Look, if you don’t like the idea of eating iron shavings then you can simply add iron rich foods like nuts or dried fruit to your cereal. Try raisins, dried apricots, almonds or shredded coconut for small but steady additions toward your daily iron totals.
Also, when you eat your cereal you would probably eat it with milk. That’s not a great idea as milk is full of calcium and calcium is a iron absorption inhibitor i.e. it stops your body from absorbing the iron in the foods you eat. Instead try using soy milk which is naturally low in calcium (but make sure you don’t get a calcium enrich soy milk!).
Oh, and add a glass of orange juice which is high in vitamin C a well-known iron absorption enhancer.
A final comment:
I’m not a big fan of iron fortified food as I don’t believe eating iron shavings is something we should do as human beings. But, and this is a big but, eating iron fortified foods sure beats having iron deficiency anemia so if you are struggling with low iron symptoms or iron deficiency anemia, I would strongly recommend you add iron fortified cereals and other iron fortified foods to your diet until you have fully restored your iron balance.
