3 great tricks to enrich foods with iron to help treat anemia are:
- Cook the food in an iron pot;
- Take a glass of orange juice or lemon whenever you consume foods rich in iron from vegetable source;
- 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 for improving the absorption of iron is to never mix milk or milk derivatives with foods rich in iron because the calcium present in these foods reduces the absorption of iron.
When taking a diet rich in iron, it should be followed for at least 3 months, to observe signs of recovery. At the end of this period, the blood test should be repeated.
Foods rich in iron
Iron-rich foods may be of animal or vegetable origin, but they have a varying amount of iron and only a small percentage is actually absorbed by the body. Therefore, it is important to know how to increase absorption.
Vegetable foods rich in iron tend to be the darkest, such as beets, spinach, or watercress. But, their iron is only absorbed by the body in the presence of Vitamin C. So the trick to enrich foods in iron is to add a fresh fruit in the salad, such as pineapple, for example, or accompany the salad or a soup of vegetables with a glass of orange juice.
The iron present in the meats is naturally absorbed, without needing vitamin C or other food, and is more concentrated in the kids, like the liver. However, increasing the amount of meat in the diet can also raise your cholesterol, so the trick is to use an iron pan to cook, especially some iron-poor foods like rice or pasta.
These tips are especially important for vegetarians.
Consequences of lack of iron in food
The lack of iron in the blood can cause anemia, which causes the person to become very tired and sleepy, and, in more advanced cases, produce muscle pains throughout the body.
A very important fact to consider is that sometimes the difficulty in iron absorption may be due to the 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 food.
When to take iron supplement
The use of medicated iron supplements is an alternative widely used by physicians in cases of anemia, but it must be accompanied by dietary re-education so that the anemia does not re-establish itself.
