What is iron and why do we need it? The understanding nutrients series
We’re back with the latest edition of the understanding nutrients series! You can see all the other nutrients I’ve covered here.
This time it’s the
mineral iron that’s in the spotlight. As a reminder, a mineral is a chemical
that’s essential for our bodies to function.
Roles of iron:
Iron has many roles in the body, so
I’ll touch on the main few.
Red blood cells: the role that most
people will be familiar with is iron and red blood cells. Iron helps form
haemoglobin. Haemoglobin is the protein in your red blood cells that carries
oxygen. This is obviously crucial as your blood transports oxygen around the
body to all the cells. Haemoglobin gives also blood its red colour.
.jpg "red blood cells")
Immune system: iron also plays a
key role in the immune system. Iron helps form other proteins within the immune
system that can prevent the growth of harmful microbes. It also forms molecules
that can kill bacteria. And finally, iron helps the memory T cells maintain
your immunity. Memory T cells are those that remember certain microbes and can
create a quicker immune response to fight them off.
Iron has other roles including:
growth and development, hormone production, and cell functionality.
How much iron should we be having?
There are 2 types of iron: haem and
non-haem. Haem iron is found in animal products like meat and fish. It’s also
better absorbed by the body. Non-haem iron is found in plants like grains and
is less well absorbed.
But consuming the non-haem iron
with a food containing vitamin C will improve the absorption. For example, a
lentil stew with spinach or kale will give you both iron and vitamin C.
Adult males should be having 8.7mg
of iron daily, with females aiming for 14.8mg a day. Females need more to make
up for the loss of iron in the blood during menstruation.
For reference, 100g of spinach has
2.1mg of iron.
Foods that are high in iron:
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- 100g of roast beef has 2.8mg
- 100g of kidney beans has 2.2mg
- 100g of lentils has 2.1mg
- 30g of dried apricots has 1.2mg
- 100g of kale has 1.7mg
- 100g of brown rice has 1.1mg
- 100g of tofu has 1.2mg
- 100g of pork chops has 0.6mg
What happens if you don’t get enough iron?
A deficiency in iron is called iron
deficiency anaemia (IDA). It can leave you feeling tired, short of breath, and
make your skin pale. IDA is the last stage of having insufficient iron levels
as iron is normally stored well in the body. It can occur if you lose a lot of
blood e.g., through heavy periods or are pregnant.
it is treated through iron tablets
and trying to include more iron rich foods in your diet.
Key points:
- Iron plays key roles in the immune system and in the production of haemoglobin which helps your blood carry oxygen.
- Foods that are good sources of iron are: red meat, wholegrains, dried fruit, beans and pulses, and green veg.
- Haem iron comes from animal products and is better absorbed. Non-haem iron comes from plants and is less well absorbed.
- Men need 8.7mg of iron daily while women need 14.8mg.
- A lack of iron is called iron deficiency anaemia and can leave you feeling tired. It’s treated with iron tablets.
I hope you enjoyed this blog post; I’d love to hear your
thoughts in the comments below!
Bye for now! 👋
References:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3999603/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7019735/
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