I teach an introduction to Nutrition and Food Science lab, and one of the most consistent things I see people doing/saying is that red meat is 'bad' for you. I know that this is a pretty heated area of debate amongst nutrition professionals, especially alternative health. That discussion aside for the time being, it doesn't change the fact that Americans are eating less red meat (1).
I'm not against reducing your consumption of red meat, but with that, comes the reduction of major sources of iron in the diet. The DRIs for iron are 8mg for adult males, 18mg for adult, premenopausal females, and 27mg for pregnant women (2). Besides beef, chicken liver, oyster, and clams top the list for being high in heme iron (3). These are not generally foods we consume a lot of - and no health professional would recommend consistently getting your iron from chicken liver due to risk of hypervitaminosis A, and retinal's detrimental effect on bone mineral density and osteoclast activity (4) (9). After beef, there's a pretty large dropoff in the amount of iron in foods, with non-heme (plant) iron being significantly less bio-available (5).
I wish I had a dollar for every time I had someone tell me "I'm basically vegetarian except that I eat chicken". I had someone the other day tell me that they're a pollo-lacto-ovo-pescetarian - apparently this has a name now. But chicken isn't a great source of iron, with white meat coming in at .8mg/3oz serving (3).
So if these individuals are eating mostly a vegetarian diet and chicken, it stands to reason their iron sources are generally non-heme and should follow the same/similar iron consumption recommendations as vegetarians. It is recommended by the Food and Nutrition Board of the Institute of Medicine that vegans/vegetarians get 1.8x the amount of iron compared to non-vegetarians, due to the presence of phytates, oxalates, polyphenols and calcium supplements commonly found in the diet, and lack of meat/heme iron (5). These individuals are also likely to being working out, which also requires an increase your iron needs - depending on the intensity, up to 2x the RDA may be needed (10, 11, 12)
I don't want to cause mass hysteria that there's a major iron deficiency, and if you read (5), Jack Norris notes several reasons why we shouldn't consider more iron a good thing (oxidative stress/cancer). I am more clinically concerned with pre-menopausal/pregnant women avoiding red meat and frequently exercising in an attempt to be healthier, who may be risking anemia or have low iron status/stores. Low iron can present itself as a myriad of symptoms, including fatigue - a very common complaint- and easily bruising.
So what if you're pregnant, have low iron stores, or are anemic?
What are my top non-heme/meat iron sources?:
1. Tempeh/Edamame - These two soy based foods are lower in phytic acid than other beans, thereby making their iron more bioavailable (6). They're also great sources of protein and fiber.
2. Collard Greens - not that anyone needs more of a reason to be including dark leafy greens (unless you're on blood thinners), but collard greens contain about 1mg of iron per half cup/boiled, and are also a wealth of other nutrients (5).
3. Cocoa/Dark Chocolate (7) - go for the 80+% ones to get the most iron per square, and less added sugar - cocoa is quite high in calories overall so don't go overboard
4. Quinoa - Quinoa lists itself as a great source of iron, higher than its other whole grain/seed competitors (however,I can't find any data on its iron bioavailability)
Strategies:
1. Avoid taking calcium supplements with your iron rich meals. Calcium citrate hasn't nearly eliminated this problem, since it can be taken on an empty stomach.
2. Avoid drinking tea/coffee within an hour before meals or the first couple after!! Can't stress this enough.
3. Increase your consumption of vitamin C/lysine rich foods when consuming non-heme iron sources
4. Sprout/ferment foods whenever possible to reduce the phytic acid content of foods
5. Avoid taking soy protein isolates/ soy protein powders (8)
If all of these don't work, talk with your healthcare professional about an Iron supplement. Having low iron doesn't always have to equate to needing more red meat.
1. http://www.npr.org/blogs/thesalt/2012/06/27/155837575/why-theres-less-red-meat-served-on-many-american-plates
2. http://fnic.nal.usda.gov/dietary-guidance/dietary-reference-intakes/dri-tables
3. http://ods.od.nih.gov/factsheets/Iron-HealthProfessional/
4. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/3655980
5. http://www.veganhealth.org/articles/iron
6. http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/jf960391u?journalCode=jafcau
7. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19102811
8. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/4038429
9. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/3063069
10. http://ajcn.nutrition.org/content/72/2/594s.full
11. http://ajcn.nutrition.org/content/81/5/1246S.full
12. http://ods.od.nih.gov/factsheets/Iron-HealthProfessional/
I'm not against reducing your consumption of red meat, but with that, comes the reduction of major sources of iron in the diet. The DRIs for iron are 8mg for adult males, 18mg for adult, premenopausal females, and 27mg for pregnant women (2). Besides beef, chicken liver, oyster, and clams top the list for being high in heme iron (3). These are not generally foods we consume a lot of - and no health professional would recommend consistently getting your iron from chicken liver due to risk of hypervitaminosis A, and retinal's detrimental effect on bone mineral density and osteoclast activity (4) (9). After beef, there's a pretty large dropoff in the amount of iron in foods, with non-heme (plant) iron being significantly less bio-available (5).
I wish I had a dollar for every time I had someone tell me "I'm basically vegetarian except that I eat chicken". I had someone the other day tell me that they're a pollo-lacto-ovo-pescetarian - apparently this has a name now. But chicken isn't a great source of iron, with white meat coming in at .8mg/3oz serving (3).
So if these individuals are eating mostly a vegetarian diet and chicken, it stands to reason their iron sources are generally non-heme and should follow the same/similar iron consumption recommendations as vegetarians. It is recommended by the Food and Nutrition Board of the Institute of Medicine that vegans/vegetarians get 1.8x the amount of iron compared to non-vegetarians, due to the presence of phytates, oxalates, polyphenols and calcium supplements commonly found in the diet, and lack of meat/heme iron (5). These individuals are also likely to being working out, which also requires an increase your iron needs - depending on the intensity, up to 2x the RDA may be needed (10, 11, 12)
I don't want to cause mass hysteria that there's a major iron deficiency, and if you read (5), Jack Norris notes several reasons why we shouldn't consider more iron a good thing (oxidative stress/cancer). I am more clinically concerned with pre-menopausal/pregnant women avoiding red meat and frequently exercising in an attempt to be healthier, who may be risking anemia or have low iron status/stores. Low iron can present itself as a myriad of symptoms, including fatigue - a very common complaint- and easily bruising.
So what if you're pregnant, have low iron stores, or are anemic?
What are my top non-heme/meat iron sources?:
1. Tempeh/Edamame - These two soy based foods are lower in phytic acid than other beans, thereby making their iron more bioavailable (6). They're also great sources of protein and fiber.
2. Collard Greens - not that anyone needs more of a reason to be including dark leafy greens (unless you're on blood thinners), but collard greens contain about 1mg of iron per half cup/boiled, and are also a wealth of other nutrients (5).
3. Cocoa/Dark Chocolate (7) - go for the 80+% ones to get the most iron per square, and less added sugar - cocoa is quite high in calories overall so don't go overboard
4. Quinoa - Quinoa lists itself as a great source of iron, higher than its other whole grain/seed competitors (however,I can't find any data on its iron bioavailability)
Strategies:
1. Avoid taking calcium supplements with your iron rich meals. Calcium citrate hasn't nearly eliminated this problem, since it can be taken on an empty stomach.
2. Avoid drinking tea/coffee within an hour before meals or the first couple after!! Can't stress this enough.
3. Increase your consumption of vitamin C/lysine rich foods when consuming non-heme iron sources
4. Sprout/ferment foods whenever possible to reduce the phytic acid content of foods
5. Avoid taking soy protein isolates/ soy protein powders (8)
If all of these don't work, talk with your healthcare professional about an Iron supplement. Having low iron doesn't always have to equate to needing more red meat.
1. http://www.npr.org/blogs/thesalt/2012/06/27/155837575/why-theres-less-red-meat-served-on-many-american-plates
2. http://fnic.nal.usda.gov/dietary-guidance/dietary-reference-intakes/dri-tables
3. http://ods.od.nih.gov/factsheets/Iron-HealthProfessional/
4. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/3655980
5. http://www.veganhealth.org/articles/iron
6. http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/jf960391u?journalCode=jafcau
7. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19102811
8. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/4038429
9. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/3063069
10. http://ajcn.nutrition.org/content/72/2/594s.full
11. http://ajcn.nutrition.org/content/81/5/1246S.full
12. http://ods.od.nih.gov/factsheets/Iron-HealthProfessional/
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