Low in Iron!

klaramcdonnell

Hi everyone,

I have been veggie for 12 years and vegan for 8. I have had a few blood tests over the years and never really been told my iron levels were low but was told this last week. I eat a very varied, vegan diet and take b12. The doctor advised me to take Galfer and I went to a chemist and got them...but they are coated in gelatin so I haven't taken any! I got iron tablets that are vegan in Boots but they seem like a low dosage....any one any advice?!

Thanks in advance

sweet-rasmus

I'm glad you spotted the Glafer ingredients quickly! Yuk!

Floravit (not Floradix because it contains honey) and Seven Seas Multivitamins are vegan supplements which contain iron and B12 (among other things). Are you currently taking B12 in a supplement or on its own? Also, remember that consumption of Vitamin C along with iron boost its intake

Similar questions about iron sources have come up in the past if you want to search the forum for the details.

Edit: And as Tar said, we don't want to be giving medical advice here! Do discuss the dosage etc with your pharmacist - they are very helpful

Tar.Aldarion

First I would suggest either asking the doctor or chemist what iron tablets without gelatin might be a suitable alternative. We don't want to be giving you medical advice on boards.

Food wise: Iron rich foods include dried fruits(weight for weight dried apricots contain four times more iron than lamb does)nuts(especially brazils),wholegrains,dried peas, beans and lentils,leafy green vegetables,molasses. vitamin C boosts their absorbtion of iron so get yer OJ into you also.

klaramcdonnell

I take b12 on its own.
I did originally ask Doctor what tablets wouldn't have it, he said I don't know ask the chemist. I asked in chemists and she looked at me like I was mad when I said are you sure they are no animal derived ingredients in them and she said no....was in rush so took them home and ingredients list inside mentions gelatin.
Didn't know that about vitamin C. Thanks so much for the help, much appreciated.

Tar.Aldarion

Best of luck, hope you get it back up there, iron shouldn't be too hard as it is in yummy things.

misterdeeds

klaramcdonnell wrote: »

Hi everyone,

I have been veggie for 12 years and vegan for 8. I have had a few blood tests over the years and never really been told my iron levels were low but was told this last week. I eat a very varied, vegan diet and take b12. The doctor advised me to take Galfer and I went to a chemist and got them...but they are coated in gelatin so I haven't taken any! I got iron tablets that are vegan in Boots but they seem like a low dosage....any one any advice?!

Thanks in advance

hope this helps u if u like corn flakes try drinking some orange juice with it ,it helps ur body absorb all the iron in the corn flakes or u could try eating goji berries cos der r full of iron and cheaper than tablets hope this helps u

paky

invest in a juicer and start juicing green veg and you should be sorted

lainycool

You can get B12 in liquid form which is suitable for vegans, Solgar make it!
They also do a gentle iron which is a non constipating formula and it is made from a vegetable capsule, It has 20mg of iron which is a good dose!
Viridian also do a balanced iron complex which has vitamin c in it aswell also suitable for vegans! All in health food stores:)

tabouli

What about Spatone? Says it's vegetarian society approved anyway, and there's no added ingredients, just "iron rich water" I used to take iron tablets but they made me quite sick, this suits me a lot better. You can put it in orange juice and it tastes fine

lainycool

Spatone only has 5mg per sachet of iron so it is not very high!

Weyhey

Hi klaramcdonnell,
I am not going to give you any medical advice but tell you what happened to me recently.

Apologies in advance for the long post.....

I was diagnosed with low iron last August (8.7 haemoglobin level). I was very upset over this as I felt my vegetarianism was being held accountable. I had been taken a daily supplement with the 100% rda of 14mg of iron, B12, Vit C and others for 6 months and my diet was better than it ever was in my life and a million times better than any of my family members including being very veggie nutrient aware.
I had my iron tested for years and always been good but last two times I was told it was marginal so that's when I started back on the multi vit and very good diet.

I was also prescribed Galfer for my low iron but at first refused to take them because of the gelatine shell. My partner was not a happy bunny. My vegetarian nurse friend explained to me that one Galfer tablet contains 100mg of iron. This is over 6 times the recommended daily dose (I'll come back to RDA's in a mo) and that if that's what the doctor prescribed then I would need to take it and would see a big difference in as little as a month or so. I searched around for a veggie equivalent but couldn't find any.

I really think none exists at or near this dosage. There is Galfer liquid form and you would have to drink a lot of this to get the same dose and it is vile beyond words. In the end I sent off an email to the makers of Galfer and they said that a lot of people cut open the capsule and only use the contents and this was my compromise with my partner until my iron levels went back up ( which happened in two months). By the way I beg you to also email them asking them to consider a vegan capsule too.

Anyway in the end I found out that I had 'womens issues' which resulted in a little procedure last August and the doctor told me that this could have been the result of my low iron and not my vegetarian diet after all. Happy days. They told me that diet isn't the only reason why iron levels can be low so if diet isn't an issue persistent low iron needs to be investigated. Either way after two months my iron levels were great and I no longer need to take Galfer any more.

Now getting back to RDA...
As far as I seemed to find out on my research at the time is that the Irish recommended daily amount (RDA) of iron for women of child bearing age is 14 (or is it 14.8 mg?) and 8.7 mg for men. In other parts of the world it is higher especially for vegetarians and vegans. Iron needs vitamin C to help it be absorbed so I sprinkled it on a spoon of honey (sorry vegans) or orange juice and then drank a glass of orange juice followed by some fruit. I would then have my breakfast or dinner about 20 - 30 mins later. Some things prohibit the absorbtion of iron like tannins in tea and coffee so I had to avoid drinking any within an hour of taking iron. Some websites say that the absorption of iron from vegetarian and vegan food is much lower than that of animal products and that we would have to eat a lot more veggie food to get the same amount of iron that meat eaters get BUT yet some also say that meat eaters are as likely to have iron problems and non meat eaters!

I also found out that too much iron is dangerous - even fatal for some people and that is why going by your doctors advice is very important.

So only you klaramcdonnell can decide if discarding the capsule and only using the contents is ok with your beliefs.

What ever you decide to do I would recommend you look at the level of iron in what ever you decide to take versus what your doctor recommended or prescribed and I would urge you to go back to your doctor regularly until you are both happy with your iron levels.

Best of luck!