Iron and B12 Levels

You haven't had bloodwork done in the last 10 years!!!
I've always thought iron was checked routinely. From what you describe I would think it would be obvious, as in paleness in the inside of your eyelids, your fingertips, even your lips.

I used to be put on iron supplements occasionally as an omni, but since quitting animals started to use my cast iron skillet for almost all my cooking. Between that and eating beans and lentils and greens I've never been low.

Your ideas are very sound. Someone talked in a blog about how good warm soy milk was with blackstrap molasses and --tahini! I've always wanted to try it, I forget what she compared it to-- sounds terrible but I love to try things! I think tahini is also high in iron?

Anyway, I do love cast iron. With plant based foods it can just stay on your stove top, always ready

I take Deva B12 about every three days, cause why not?

My iron is high(not dangerously but above normal) and I am vegan....here is what I munch on often

Pasta
Just had curried potatoes(plenty of cumin)...I munch quite a lot of potatoes, curried or not
pizza
decent amount of various fruit depending on what's available
nuts/seeds

Those are the main things I munch on. I of course have other things as well, but there is a high chance if I am eating something it's going to be something I've listed already. I eat a lot of tomatoes.

I also love orange juice and drink a fair bit of soy milk as well. It's not uncommon for me to get >400% of my recommended intake. If you'd like you can go to www.cronometer.com and check how you do for iron.

I have been vegan for 4.5 years and have not had an issue with iron. My iron and hemoglobin have tested normal range.

I do medical coding for a living and code infusions/injections every day. There are MANY people who have iron deficiency anemia, and the majority of them are unable to absorb oral iron supplements. Iron supplements are notoriously hard to absorb (according to many doctors). Most of these people (and all of the ones I have seen so far have been meat eaters) come in for iron infusions. There are many causes for iron deficiency. I have seen secondary causes such as gastric bypass status, crohn's disease or ulcerative colitis, chronic heavy menstrual bleeding, celiac disease, hemophilia, anorexia nervosa, and extreme obesity just to name a few. I have not yet seen a vegetarian in my coding of iron deficiency (I have only been doing this job for one year) but I am sure there are vegetarians who are iron deficient.

Like others mentioned, beans/legumes are great sources of iron and they are staples for me. I too use a cast iron skillet for some cooking. I also consume a minimum of two cups of leafy greens most days, sometimes more. I have them in salads, soups, smoothies, sandwiches, casseroles etc. Blackstrap molasses is something I also utilize, more for the calcium content though since I have a bone condition. I believe figs and dates are also high in iron. And of course you know that adding a source of vitamin C with iron rich food is a must for increased absorption. Not just oranges, but red bell peppers, strawberries, broccoli, kiwi, cantaloupe, and pineapple are just a few other great foods with vitamin c. And avoiding high calcium foods and coffee when consuming iron rich foods will help too since calcium and coffee interfere with absorption.

I wouldn't be surprised if there was something else going on that is causing your low iron. Do you eat enough? Are you extremely active? Do you have heavy menstrual periods? Low iron seems to be more common in younger women. I am 43 years old and have no uterus so my daily iron needs will probably be a lot lower than yours.

I'm betting iron infusions will help you feel worlds better! It seems like the people I have followed on the job who have iron deficiency and come in for infusions, they get a series of infusions and then they seem to be good for months before needing another series. So even if it is something you have to do long term, you'll get breaks in between hopefully. Best wishes!

Here is an article on iron that I would highly recommend: http://www.veganhealth.org/articles/iron

In order to increase iron absorption, I have started drinking a small glass of orange juice with and/or having some fresh berries on top of an iron fortified cereal almost every morning. I also try to eat more legumes, but I do that anyway. How about roasted chickpeas as a snack? For example, these salt and vinegar chickpeas (don't try cooking dry beans from scratch in the vinegar -- that will definitely not work!)

Some young women with heavy periods will have anemia/low iron regardless of diet. If heavy periods might be to blame, a birth control pill could be considered.

Also, what about seeing a registered dietitian? Doctors really aren't the best experts in nutrition -- they only get really basic training.

I recommend the vegan iron article that was cited by runnerveggie: http://www.veganhealth.org/articles/iron .

Unfortunately, physicians receive almost no nutrition education. One of my friends, a physician, has confirmed this to me.

The Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) has published at least one report lamenting the lack of nutrition training in medical schools: http://archinte.jamanetwork.com/article.aspx?articleID=1860501

The U.S. National Institutes of Health published this report underscoring the lack of nutrition education in medical schools: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2430660/

The peer-reviewed nutrition literature appears to conclude that vegetarians and omnivores have similar rates of iron anemia:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10479197

http://ajcn.nutrition.org/content/59/5/1233S.abstract

http://ajcn.nutrition.org/content/70/3/353.long

If you continue to have difficulty maintaining adequate iron levels, you might find it useful to make an appointment with a Registered Dietitian who specializes in vegetarian diets.

In the United States, you can find a local Registered Dietitian through this website: http://www.eatright.org . Just click on the "Find an Expert" button, located in the upper-right-hand portion of the webpage.

In the U.K., you can find a local Registered Dietitian on the Freelance Dietitians website: http://www.freelancedietitians.org/

In New Zealand, you can find a local Registered Dietitian through the Dietitians New Zealand website: http://dietitians.org.nz/find-a-dietitian/

In Canada, you can find a local Registered Dietitian at the Dietitians of Canada website: http://www.dietitians.ca/Find-a-Dietitian.aspx .

Stargirl, your doctor is an idiot. I've had iron deficiency all my life. It's been a problem off and on since it was first noticed when I was nine years old. In didn't go veg (vegan) until my late 30s and I am now nearly 63. When my iron levels got extremely low a few years ago and I was dangerously anemic, my doctor told me I should have been on iron supplements since I was a kid. My body just does not utilize iron properly and it simply isn't possible for me to get enough iron from food. No doctor has ever even suggested it had anything to do with my diet because they all know the facts about iron and do not subscribe to grossly outdated information.

It can take many months for your body's iron stores to return. When I became anemic, my doctor prescribed 900 mg of iron daily, which I took for over a year before my iron levels stabilized. My worst symptoms eased slightly within a day or two after starting the high dose, but did not go away for several months. [Note: Iron deficiency is not the same as iron deficiency anemia.] It can also take some experimenting to find the iron supplement that's right for you. Most of them make me violently ill, but I found one that works and that has no side effects for me. I take an iron chelate and will take 100-200 mg daily for the rest of my life. I also take it with 2,000mg of vitamin C. C helps the uptake of iron and the two should always be taken together. A glass of juice isn't sufficient to assist in the uptake if you are iron deficient (and especially if you're severely iron deficient), so find a high-quality vitamin C supplement and take at least 1,000mg of C with the iron.

Speaking of quality... There can be a huge difference among nutritional supplement brands. It pays to get high-quality products. Grocery store and discount store products just aren't reliable. (There are large consumer studies on supplements that show this to be true.)

While increasing high-iron foods in your diet might help, it's also possible it won't help. So try not to make yourself crazy with menu-planning. Stress has a very serious effect on iron, btw. For now, I highly recommend that you find a different doctor who will prescribe the right dose of iron for you. Then you can rely on proper supplementation to restore your iron levels. Once you are well again, you'll know what signs to watch for regarding low iron levels and you can determine how much your unique body needs to maintain health iron levels and healthy iron stores.

Take charge of your health and don't let any physician get away with giving you bad advice. Best of luck to you!


Sort of a P.S. -- In 1962 when I was first diagnosed with iron deficiency, the doctor said then that increasing meat wouldn't help. He said that increasing high-iron vegetables would help because iron from plants was better for the body. I was from a typical American family with a typical meat-centric diet. And that doctor was a meat-eater, too. I've always found it interesting that even then, good science knew that meat wasn't the solution.