Nutrition
Dietary Iron Foods
Dietary iron foods span meat and plants—pair plant iron with vitamin C, space tea, and track patterns before assuming supplements fix fatigue.
Dietary iron foods include heme iron from red meat, poultry, and fish, and non-heme iron from beans, lentils, tofu, spinach, and fortified cereals. Heme iron absorbs more efficiently; plant iron improves with vitamin C at the same meal and spacing coffee or tea one to two hours away.
Calcium-rich supplements at lunch can blunt uptake for some people. Calories can be adequate while iron density is low on salad-heavy weeks.
Common questions
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Which iron source absorbs best?
Heme iron from animal foods generally absorbs better than plant iron. Vitamin C and meal timing still matter for vegetarians and mixed diets.
Related terms
Put Dietary Iron Foods into practice
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