Iron supplements.

[annette12]

I bought some floradix liguid iron today and see that it contains iodine.

My Endo told me to stay away from iodine as it can cause problems with Hashimotos. Im a bit sceptical to try this now. Can someone suggest where to get a good iron supplement.

Thanks folks

[PinkNinja]

I take Solgar Gentle Iron or Spatone. I find both of these work quite well. The Solgar works out cheaper when I need a higher dose but I prefer the Spatone.

[Hidden in reply to PinkNinja]

Hi Caroline,

Just out of interest how many Spatone do you take a day? I just take one in a glass of orange.

[helvella Administrator Thyroid UK]

In general there are three forms of iron supplement -

• The simple substances like ferrous sulphate through ferrous fumarate, ferrous bisglycinate, and so on

• Various forms of haem iron (also spelled heme)

• Ferritin

The simple substances do vary with the more complex molecules often being regarded as being gentler than the basic - that is, bisglycinate is usually preferred to sulphate.

Haem iron and ferritin both wrap the iron up in more complex molecules and they have much less impact on the gut.

Haem and ferritin will be more expensive than the cheapest supplements but compared to some such as Floradix, they are not particularly expensive. Don't forget that black pudding is still available.

As I do not need to take iron, this is all based on reading and not personal experience.

Sources:

Haem - iherb.com/search?kw=heme#p=1

Ferritin - iherb.com/search?sug=ferrit...

Results may vary over time.

A snippet about why ferritin might be particularly important:

Ferritin iron is absorbed by a different mechanism than iron salts/chelates or heme iron. Recognition of a second, nonheme iron absorption process, ferritin endocytosis, emphasizes the need for more mechanistic studies on ferritin iron absorption and highlights the potential of ferritin present in foods such as legumes to contribute to solutions for global iron deficiency.

ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/222...

[annette12 in reply to helvella]

Thanks for this, has been most helpful.

[Hidden]

I take Spatone, 2 or 3 sachet a day with juice. No side effects like after iron pills. hope that helps.

[Margo in reply to Hidden]

Interested in your reply Massao, you take 2 or 3 sachets of Spatone a day, seems a lot. Dr.P recommended I take one every other day, but in fact I take one every day. Still tired, wondering if the iron is the missing link regards to tiredness, but always worry I could take too much.

[Hidden in reply to Margo]

I does seems like a lot but I have a chronic log iron/ferritin level, and in my case it takes a couple of months to build the levels up over a minium range and I have never managed to get to mid range. but mind you, I do make brekas from it from time to time, and there may be some other issues that lower iron absorption such as low stomach acid for example. Everyone is different so it's difficult to judge. Best way would be to take it for a couple of months and then do blood tests I suppose. Iron overload may result in fatigue too: irondisorders.org/iron-over...

[Margo in reply to Hidden]

Thanks Massao, as you say we are all different. Too much could be a problem as not enough. I have just had a ferritin blood test yesterday, it will be interesting to see the results. Of course the basic Ferritin bloods won't tell the whole story, but at least I will have an idea. Thanks for your reply.

[Angel_of_the_North in reply to Margo]

I took 3 Spatone a day for about 6 months and ended up with a ferritin of 10 - below bottom of range. I don't think it works and 3 a day is very expensive. You could probably just leave tap water in a rusty bucket and get the same effect.

[Margo in reply to Angel_of_the_North]

Crikey Angel_of_the_North that's interesting.

[Angel_of_the_North]

AFAIK Floravital (the yeast free version) doesn't contain iodine. But always read the label.