3 great tricks to enrich foods with iron, to help treat anemia, are:
- Cook food in an iron pan;
- Drink a glass of orange or lemon juice whenever you consume foods rich in iron from plant sources;
- Make fruit juices with vegetables, such as pineapple juice with parsley.
These measures are simple and can help cure iron deficiency anemia more easily.
How to improve iron absorption
A very valuable tip to improve iron absorption is to never mix milk or dairy products with foods rich in iron, because the calcium present in these foods decreases iron absorption.
When adopting a diet rich in iron, it must be followed for at least 3 months to observe signs of recovery. At the end of this period, the blood test must be repeated.
Iron-rich foods
Foods rich in iron can be of animal or vegetable origin, but they contain a variable amount of iron and only a small percentage is actually absorbed by the body. Therefore, it is important to know how to increase absorption.
The plant foods richest in iron tend to be the darkest, such as beets, spinach, or watercress. However, their iron is only absorbed by the body in the presence of Vitamin C. Therefore, the trick to enriching foods with iron is to add a fresh fruit to the salad, such as pineapple, for example, or accompany it with a salad or soup. vegetables with a glass of orange juice.
The iron present in meat is naturally absorbed, without the need for vitamin C or other food, and is more concentrated in offal, such as liver. However, greatly increasing the amount of meat in your diet can also increase your cholesterol levels, so the trick is to use an iron pan to cook, especially some foods low in iron, such as rice or pasta.
These tips are especially important for vegetarians.
Consequences of a lack of iron in the diet
A lack of iron in the blood can cause anemia, which causes a person to become very tired and drowsy, in addition to, in more advanced cases, producing muscle pain throughout the body.
A very important fact to take into account is that, sometimes, the difficulty in absorbing iron may be due to a lack of Vitamin B12, known as pernicious anemia, and not due to the correct supply of iron. In these cases, it is important to correct this deficiency before increasing the supply of iron in the diet.
When to take an iron supplement
The use of medicated iron supplements is an alternative widely used by doctors in cases of anemia, but it must be accompanied by dietary re-education, so that anemia does not set in again.
