Top 50 Iron Rich Foods For Blood Cells And Boost Energy! 

What is Iron?

Iron is a mineral that’s vital to your health. All of your cells contain some iron, but most of the iron in your body is in your red blood cells. Red blood cells transport oxygen from your lungs to the organs and tissues throughout your body. iron rich foods

Iron has a role in creating energy from nutrients. It also contributes to the transmission of nerve impulses, the signals that coordinate the actions of different parts of your body. If you have more iron than is needed, it’s stored in your body for future use.

Facts About Iron:

Why Is Iron Essential?

• In humans, iron is an essential component of proteins involved in oxygen transport.
• It is also essential for the regulation of cell growth and differentiation.
• A deficiency of iron limits oxygen delivery to cells, resulting in fatigue, poor work performance, and decreased immunity.

What causes iron deficiency?

There is no particular elimination mechanism in the body for iron. It is mostly lost in bleeding, such as during menstruation and major injury, with a small loss from sweat, hair, and dead skin cells flaking off and in the bile.

What the body does is control the amount coming in, and 90% of iron is recovered and recycled. Recycling not an idea originated by man, but by his creator. If the body needs iron it absorbs more, if it has enough it will stop absorbing it. Most people’s diet is abundant in iron.

Deficiency usually comes from poor absorption,

rather than from lack in the diet, although anemia can result from blood loss and occult (hidden) blood loss such as hookworm infestation and bleeding ulcers.

While iron in animal products (mainly from the blood consumed) is absorbed more readily, animal products require iron and other nutrients to detoxify the toxins they contain. About 5 to 10% of the iron in food is normally absorbed. This can go up in times of extra demand such as menstruation and in cases of anemia when it can be as high as 45 to 64%.

The major cause of iron deficiency is,

vitamin C deficiency as well as anti iron substances in our western diet. Such as Tea and coffee which reduce absorption. Vitamin C is easily destroyed. An orange can lose most of its vitamin C within hours of picking. Processing destroys many vitamins, including up to 90% of vitamin C and most people’s diet is grossly deficient in fresh fruits and vegetables which are high in vitamin C.

Vitamin C is essential for the absorption of iron. The digestive function is critical, low stomach acid, antacids can reduce absorption. Lack of intrinsic factor in the stomach prevents absorption. This intrinsic factor is similar in structure to B12’s intrinsic factor, and heme, the iron-containing molecule in hemoglobin.

Caution With Iron:

• Iron deficiency is uncommon among adult men and postmenopausal women. These individuals should only take iron supplements when prescribed by a physician because of their greater risk of iron overload.
• Iron overload is a condition in which excess iron is found in the blood and stored in organs such as the liver and heart.
• Iron overload is associated with several genetic diseases including hemochromatosis. Individuals with hemochromatosis absorb iron very efficiently, which can result in a build-up of excess iron and can cause organ damage such as cirrhosis of the liver and heart failure.

Hemochromatosis,

• It is often not diagnosed until excess iron stores have damaged an organ. Iron supplementation may accelerate the effects of hemochromatosis, an important reason why adult men and postmenopausal women who are not iron deficient should avoid iron supplements.
• Individuals with blood disorders that require frequent blood transfusions are also at risk of iron overload and are usually advised to avoid iron supplements.
• There is considerable potential for iron toxicity because very little iron is excreted from the body. Thus, iron can accumulate in body tissues and organs when normal storage sites are full

Recommended Dietary Allowances for Iron:

Age	Males (mg/day)	Females (mg/day)	Pregnancy (mg/day)	Lactation (mg/day)
7 to 12 months	11	11	N/A	N/A
1 to 3 years	7	7	N/A	N/A
4 to 8 years	10	10	N/A	N/A
9 to 13 years	8	8	N/A	N/A
14 to 18 years	11	15	27	10
19 to 50 years	8	18	27	9
51+ years	8	8	N/a	N/A

Here’s 50 Iron Rich Foods For Blood Cells And boost Energy:

Increasing your intake of iron-rich foods should not be too difficult. All it takes is for you to know which of the foods you eat are rich in iron, and start planning your meals accordingly. Sadly, the extent of most people’s knowledge, when it comes to iron and iron-rich foods, is just too limited.

According to the USDA National Nutrient Database For Standard, 

We have listed the Top 50 Iron Rich Foods by category, so you know that when you eat meat what meat to choose when you buy vegetables what to put in your shopping cart and when you need a quick snack that can help you boost your iron intake in just a few minutes.

• Eat these Iron Rich Foods, combine them with Iron Absorption Enhancers.
• avoid Iron Absorption Inhibitors and you’ll be well on your way to boost your Iron levels and get rid of those Low Iron Symptoms!

1. Breakfast bowls of cereal: 

• Fortified breakfast cereal is one of your best bets to boost your Iron intake and below is a shortlist of some of them.
• As you can see eating just a single serving of these will give you around 18 mg of Iron, but bear in mind that the typical absorption rate of a healthy adult is only approximately 10% to 15% of dietary iron.
• So drink a glass of Orange juice with your cereal to boost your absorption.
• Also, bear in mind that the last two items in this last are dry, i.e. before you have added milk or water to them!

The Foods:

• Ralston Enriched Bran Flakes: 27 mg/cup.
• Kellog’s Complete Oat Bran Flakes: 25 mg/cup.
• General Mills Multi-Grain Cheerios: 24 mg/cup.
• Kellog’s All-Bran Complete Wheat Flakes: 24 mg/cup.
• Malt-O-Meal, plain, dry: 92 mg/cup.
• Cream of Wheat, instant, dry: 51 mg/cup.

 

2. Meat: 

• Red meat is high on iron and it comes in the heme form your body most easily absorbs; typically 15% to 35% of heme iron is absorbed by your body.
• Organ meats are the best sources of iron within the meat category and of these liver is probably the most popular
• So we have included it on the list since we don’t know too many people who’ll eat spleen or lungs we’ve excluded these kinds of organs.
• If you like liver then go for goose liver expensive, but very nice! or at least opt for pork liver instead of beef liver.
• When you opt for red meat in your diet add some less standard options like Emu, Ostrich or Duck instead of beef.

The Foods:

• Goose liver, raw: 31 mg / 100g.
• Pork liver, cooked: 18 mg / 100g.
• Chicken liver, cooked: 13 mg / 100g.
• Lamb liver, cooked: 10 mg / 100g.
• Beef liver, cooked: 7 mg / 100g.
• Emu, cooked: 7 mg / 100g.
• Ostrich oyster cooked: 5 mg / 100g.
• Quail meat, raw: 5 mg / 100g.
• Duck breast, raw: 5 mg / 100g.
• Beef, steak, cooked: 4 mg / 100g.
• Beef, ground, cooked: 3 mg / 100g.

 

3. Fish and Shellfish:

Fish is not often considered as a good source of iron and most finfish is indeed not, only the oily fish like mackerel and sardines provide you with a decent amount of iron.

• So when you want to eat fish, opt for oily fish which gives you the most iron and is high in omega-3 too.
• When you add shellfish into the equation suddenly we find some of the best Iron Rich Foods you can find, especially clams think clam chowder.
• A quick comparison with the meat category shows that octopus or cuttlefish beat all the regular meats in terms of iron content and are only outdone by the liver.
• So, it’s time to add some stir-fried squid to your weekly menu.

The Foods:

• Clams, canned, drained solids: 28 mg / 100g.
• Clams, cooked: 28 mg / 100g.
• Fish caviar, black and red: 12 mg / 100g.
• Cuttlefish, cooked: 11 mg / 100g.
• Octopus, cooked: 10 mg / 100g.
• Oyster, medium sized, cooked: 10 mg / 100g.
• Anchovy, canned in oil: 5 mg / 100g.
• Shrimp, cooked: 3 mg / 100g.
• Sardine, canned in oil: 3 mg / 100g.
• Mackerel, cooked: 2 mg / 100g.

 

4. Vegetables: 

Vegetables are an essential part of your diet, full of essential nutrients and most people don’t eat enough of them, but when it comes to Iron most vegetables are not too hot.

If you choose your vegetables carefully then you can use vegetables to help you boost your iron levels, especially if you include some iron absorption enhancers in your diet as the non-heme iron in vegetables is not easily absorbed by your body.

Vegetables in the Top Iron-Rich Foods include,

• Various beans.
• Potato skins.
• Tomatoes and green leafy vegetables like spinach, chard, and parsley.
• Chili con carne, which combines meat.
• Kidney beans and tomato sauce.

makes an excellent Iron Rich Recipe, but so does a white bean salad with plenty of fresh parsley and the light vinaigrette.

The Foods:

• Mushrooms, morel, raw: 12 mg/cup.
• Tomatoes, sun-dried: 5 mg / cup.
• Potato skins baked: 4 mg/skin.
• Parsley, raw: 4 mg / cup.
• Soybeans boiled: 9 mg/cup.
• Spinach, boiled, drained: 6 mg/cup.
• Tomato sauce, canned: 9 mg/cup.
• Lentils, boiled: 7 mg / cup.
• Hearts of palm, canned: 5 mg/cup.
• White Beans, canned: 8 mg/cup.
• Kidney beans boiled: 5 mg/cup.
• Chickpeas, boiled: 5 mg / cup.
• Pinto Beans, frozen, boiled: 3 mg/cup.
• Lima beans boiled: 4 mg/cup.
• Hummus, commercial: 6 mg / cup.
• Swiss Chard, boiled, chopped: 4 mg/cup.
• Asparagus, canned: 4 mg / cup.
• Chickpeas, canned: 3 mg / cup.
• Tomatoes, canned: 3 mg / cup.
• Sweet potato, canned, mashed: 3 mg/cup.
• Endive, raw: 4 mg / head.

 

5. Nuts and Seeds:

Nuts and seeds are great Iron Rich Foods in that:

• They have a pretty high iron content and are so versatile that you can eat them in many ways.
• A quick snack on some cashew nuts is filling, healthy and gives plenty of iron – tasty too!
• Pumpkin seeds and sunflower seeds can be easily toasted and added to a salad for a nice crunch and an iron boost.

• Sesame seeds are used in a variety of Asian dishes and all of these can be used in baking or as a quick addition to your breakfast cereal.
• Just make sure you always have some in the house and you’ll soon find many ways to add them to your day-to-day food.

The Foods:

• Sesame seeds, whole, dried: 21 mg/cup.
• Pumpkin seeds and squash seed kernels dried: 11 mg/cup.
• Sunflower seed kernels, toasted: 9 mg/cup.
• Cashew nuts, dry roasted, halves, and whole: 8 mg/cup.
• Pistachio nuts, dry roasted: 5 mg/cup.
• Almonds, whole kernels, blanched: 5 mg/cup.

 

6. Fruit:

Fresh fruit is not rich in Iron, but dried fruit like apricots, peaches, or prunes are great Iron Rich Snacks to eat in between meals or to add to various recipes.

The one thing you must remember about fresh fruit is that:

Most of it contains a lot of Vitamin C and since Vitamin is an Iron Absorption Enhancer eating fresh fruit or vegetables high in Vitamin C with your meal can greatly boost the amount of iron your body actually absorbs.

The Foods:

• Apricots, dehydrated low-moisture: 8 mg/cup.
• Peaches, dehydrated low-moisture: 6 mg/cup.
• Prunes, dehydrated low-moisture: 5 mg/cup.
• Olives, canned jumbo: 0.3 mg / olive.
• Currants dried: 5 mg/cup.
• Apricots, dried, sulfured, uncooked: 4 mg/cup.
• Blueberries, canned: 7 mg/cup.

 

7. Iron Rich Snacks:

Apart from the nuts and dried fruit, there are quick and easy Iron Rich Snacks which you can simply buy in the supermarket and use as an instant Iron Booster.

Below or some examples, but if you’re planning to buy some bars or drinks then you need to remember to check the nutrition labels on the actual products you buy as the actual Iron content can vary greatly from brand to brand and even from product to product within the same brand.

The Foods:

• Nestle Supligen, a canned supplement drink 9 mg/can.
• Snickers Marathon Honey Nut Oat Bar: 8 mg/bar.
• Snickers Marathon Double Chocolate Nut Bar 8 mg/bar.
• Snickers Marathon Multigrain Crunch Bar: 8 mg/bar.
• Pretzels, soft: 6 mg / large.
• Trail mix, regular: 3 mg / cup.

 

8. Eggs: 

Dairy products are not high in Iron but do contain a lot of calcium and calcium has been known to act as an Iron Absorption Inhibitor so you should try and eat calcium-rich foods separate from your Iron Rich Foods as much as possible.

Eggs are not too high in Iron, but egg yolks are not too bad and if you can find fresh goose eggs they could be used in a great Iron Rich Breakfast!

The Foods:

• Goose Egg, whole: 5 mg/egg.
• Egg yolk, raw: 7 mg iron/cup.
• Egg, scrambled: 3 mg iron/cup.

 

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Disclaimer: “Nothing in this article makes any claim to offer cures or treatment of any disease or illness. If you are sick please consult with your doctor.”

Excellent nutrition is the basis of a healthy diet!

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