As a vegetarian or vegan, you should pay extra attention to ensuring that you get enough iron in your diet. Some vegetables contain iron, but iron from fruit and vegetables is not absorbed as well in the body as iron from meat. Therefore, many vegetarians need to supplement their diet with a daily iron supplement.
When putting together a varied and iron-rich diet that provides you with plenty of iron, it's important that you know which foods both inhibit and promote the absorption of iron in the body. Vitamin C is known to increase the absorption of iron, while beverages such as coffee and tea containing polyphenols help to inhibit the absorption of iron in the body.
In a vegetarian diet, there is plenty of iron in grains and wholegrain products as well as beans, lentils, kale, Brussels sprouts, peas and sugar snap peas. For vegetarians and vegans, it is important to know that there are 2 types of iron: heme iron and non-heme iron. Heme iron is only found in animal foods and is bound to proteins. Sources of heme iron are often meat and offal. Non-haem iron is found freely in both plant and animal foods, and good sources of non-haem iron are particularly beans, lentils and coarse grain products.
It is possible to get enough iron in a plant-based diet, and it can be a good idea to keep an eye on which foods can be good sources of iron so that you get plenty of iron in your diet.
Good advice on iron and diet
You should read up on which foods promote the absorption of iron in the body. For example, drinking orange juice with different meals.
Another good option could be to combine potatoes (which are rich in vitamin C) with spinach - which is high in iron.
At the same time, it is important that you do not consume too many foods that inhibit iron absorption. In an article in NHI, they write thattea, coffee and calcium-containing foods inhibit the absorption of iron and can be consumed at intervals of a few hours from meals with a high iron content.
aminoIron is produced from non-animal ingredients
aminoIron is the ideal iron supplement for vegetarians and vegans. It contains no animal ingredients and is approved by the Vegetarian Society.
You also only need one tablet a day to get the amount of iron you need.
