Iron or liver or both?!

[Ljdaly74]

Hi quick question, my ferritin is low and have been advised on here to take iron supps or eat liver. Please remind which is best iron supps and is Berserker Beef Liver 750mg capsules a suitable alternative?

[SlowDragon Administrator]

Getting full iron panel test before considering adding iron supplements

Low ferritin doesn’t necessarily mean low iron

If ferritin is low, but iron is high, then only look at increasing iron rich foods

[Ljdaly74 in reply to SlowDragon]

GP only tests ferritin

[Lora7again]

I ate pate twice a week to increase my ferritin.

[SeasideSusie Remembering]

Ljdaly74

my ferritin is low and have been advised on here to take iron supps or eat liver.

I don't think any of our main responders would be advising you to take iron supplements purely on a low ferritin result. More likely you were advised to have an iron panel to see if you have iron deficiency and a full blood count to see if you have anaemia. If so then your GP should be prescribing iron tablets and monitoring you regularly.

Iron supplements are not something to take lightly, you need to know your serum iron level and transferrin saturation %. If these are already at optimal levels in their range then taking iron tablets is likely to push them over range and lead to iron toxicity.

So iron supplements aren't recommended unless you know you have iron deficiency or anaemia and then it's down to your GP to prescribe and monitor.

Eating liver can raise ferritin, in my case I am eating it weekly and my ferritin is rising without affecting the other iron panel results.

I tried Berserker Beef Liver 750mg capsules but I didn't find it helped much, maybe I didn't try it for long enough or maybe I didn't take enough. However, the problem is that it's powdered beef liver but you don't really know exactly how much liver is in each capsule.

When using fresh liver you'd eat up to a maximum of 200 grams per week.

Each capsule is 750 milligrams.

1 gram = 1000 milligrams.

Therefore 200 grams liver = 200,000 milligrams

So if you actually got 750 milligrams liver per capsule you would need 200,000 divided by 750 = 266 capsules per week.

Or if you only wanted 100 grams liver per week that's 133 capsules.

So that doesn't sound feasible.

As I say, I don't know how the capsules compare to fresh liver, maybe it's something you could ask the manufacturer.

The cheapest and easiest way to benefit from liver is to buy fresh liver and cook it. 200 grams per week is the maximum amount we should take because of it's high Vit A content.

[Ljdaly74 in reply to SeasideSusie]

Ljdaly7422 hours ago

GP only tests ferritin think will go with eating 200g liver per week. Thanks.

[SeasideSusie Remembering in reply to Ljdaly74]

Ljdaly74

Medichecks do an Iron Deficiency Test which is the iron panel, can be done with a fingerprick test.

[Serendipitious]

I'd go for grass fed beef liver capsules. I've tried NXGEN and Best of the Bone. I take 2 of these capsules every day as I can't stomach eating liver every day it's just not practical nor advisable. My Ferritin did rise from 20-30 within a short space of time by taking these and eating chicken liver once a week. My challenge is I have a lot of monthly blood loss so I can't keep these levels high enough.

[SeasideSusie Remembering in reply to Serendipitious]

Serendipitious

I can't stomach eating liver every day it's just not practical nor advised.

You don't have to. The advice is to eat no more than 200g of liver per week, that can be one meal. I have about 140g for a meal once a week and it is raising my ferritin.

[Serendipitious]

Plus Ferritin needs to be between 90-110 for thyroid hormone production according to Dr Izabella Wentz. To stop hair loss, Ferritin needs to be around 50 and to grow new hair between 70-90. Gut issues can also affect how we store Ferritin.

[Ljdaly74 in reply to Serendipitious]

Mine was 38 few months back and 22 before that

[Ljdaly74 in reply to Serendipitious]

And GP said that was fine 😳

[Serendipitious in reply to Ljdaly74]

The GP will only check if you sit within their reference range which can change and consists of results from the general population which includes sick and healthy people. To answer your original question, liver is best as it’s a food source.

[siddooo1]

Hi Ljdaly74

I take Berserker Liver Capsules and have found them really good, I take two daily and they helped raise my ferritn levels fairly quickly. I always take them with high dose Vit C. Liver naturally contains lots of vitamins and minerals, so the only extra supplements I take are Vit D and magnesium. On my last Medichecks tests all vits were at a good level.

Hope this helps

Sidd0001