iron supplements

[lesbud1]

any recommendation for which iron supplements are best? thanks

[SeasideSusie Remembering]

Whether you need an iron supplement depends on your iron panel results or if you have iron deficiency anaemia. It's not a good idea to take iron tablets without knowing if you need them. Have you got any results to share?

[lesbud1 in reply to SeasideSusie]

I haven't had any more bloods done since the last time and my ferritin was 46.1ug/l and you mentioned that it needed to be higher for good thyroid function.

[SeasideSusie Remembering in reply to lesbud1]

That's right, it needs to be at least 70 for thyroid hormone to work properly. I would have also suggested eating liver and other iron rich foods is a good way to raise ferritin.

I never suggest iron tablets because iron is complicated. If you already have a good serum iron level but ferritin needs improving, if you take iron tablets then you could very well raise serum iron level too much, and too much iron is as bad as too little.

[lesbud1 in reply to SeasideSusie]

okay thank but I don't eat liver so not able to increase the iron that way.

[SeasideSusie Remembering in reply to lesbud1]

Well, you can chop it very small/mince and hide it in strong tasting meat dishes like curry, casserole, chilli, cottage pie. Then there's liver pate and maybe black pudding if you like a fry up. There was also a link to list of iron rich foods in my previous reply.

Another way is to cut it into tablet sized pieces (cooked or raw), freeze it then take enough "frozen tablets" over a week to come to about 120-140g, which is the amount of liver which raised my ferritin level from 39 to 119 eventually.

[lesbud1 in reply to SeasideSusie]

all sound very good ideas but I don't eat beef, lamb or pork but I suppose I could get chicken livers somewhere in my diet. thanks

[SeasideSusie Remembering in reply to lesbud1]

Gram for gram, chicken liver has almost double the iron content of beef liver, and they're the mildest tasting of all liver. Bung it in all sorts of things! And of course, chicken liver pate if you like pate.

[lesbud1 in reply to SeasideSusie]

that's good. thanks will do that.