giving up meat means you've a date with anemia? Research shows it just isn't so -

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The iron file: worried that giving up meat means you've a date with anemia?

Research shows it just isn't so - includes list of foods that are good sources

of iron

Vegetarian Times, July, 1996 by Karin Horgan Sullivan

 

 

Worried that giving up meat means you've got a date with anemia? Research shows

it just isn't so.

 

If you're over the age of 25, no doubt you remember those Geritol commercials

that warned women they were at risk of developing " iron-poor blood. " A

generation of girls grew up with the firmly implanted idea that the only thing

standing between them and anemia was a dark-colored bottle of iron-rich elixir.

 

As Geritol suggested in its ads, women are far more likely to develop

iron-deficiency anemia than men. Vegetarian women who got the message may well

wonder whether they've put themselves in double jeopardy. In a nation where meat

is widely touted as the premium source of iron, vegetarian women routinely have

been urged--by doctors, concerned mothers, well-meaning mates--to at least pop a

daily iron pill, if not eat a bit of liver every now and then.

 

Well, you can skip the liver and most likely the iron pills, too. It turns out

that plant foods are a perfectly adequate source of iron, and for some women

(and a lot of men), they may actually be a safer source than meat.

 

THE IMPORTANCE OF IRON

 

IRON IS CRITICAL to creating hemoglobin, the red pigment in blood cells that

carries oxygen to the body's tissues, providing energy for the chemical

reactions of all living cells. Without enough iron in your body, your tissues

don't receive enough oxygen and iron-deficiency anemia can develop, leading to

fatigue, paleness, headaches, dizziness and lowered immunity; children with

anemia can suffer from impaired physical and mental development.

 

Iron is present in your body in two states: circulating and stored. Circulating

iron is found mainly in your bloodstream. Stored iron is held in your tissues in

a protein called ferritin; this iron is like a reserve tank of fuel, ready if

necessary to replenish depleted levels of circulating iron. Fortunately, the

body is adept at recycling iron, and we lose only a small amount each day--about

1 milligram (mg.)--mainly through intestinal blood loss and cells that are

sloughed off. (Menstruating girls and women lose more, depending on how heavily

they bleed each month.) To maintain sufficient levels of circulating iron in

your body without depleting that emergency stash, you must consume enough iron

to replace what's lost.

 

A quick look at the RDAs reveals the intake of iron recommended is considerably

higher than the amount we lose (see " How Much Iron Do You Need?, " page 64).

That's because our bodies don't absorb all the iron found in food. Furthermore,

dietary iron comes in two forms, and one is better absorbed than the other. Heme

iron is found in red meat, poultry and fish, with red meat being a particularly

abundant source; the body absorbs anywhere from 15 percent to 3 5 percent of

heme iron. About 60 percent of the iron in, meat and all the iron in dairy I

products. eggs and plant foods I is a more poorly absorbed form called non-heme

iron; the body absorbs only 2 percent to 20 percent of non-heme iron. The

variability in the absorption rates for both heme and non-heme iron is the

result of one of nature's little miracles: The lower your iron levels, the more

iron your body absorbs from food, keeping you in a precisely regulated state of

balance.

 

Although heme iron absorption isn't affected much by other foods you eat,

non-heme iron absorption is. Some constituents of food can inhibit the

absorption of non-heme iron. Primarily, this includes polyphenols, such as

tannins in tea, and phytates, found in whole grains, legumes, nuts and seeds.

Eggs, milk, calcium and soy protein also have some inhibitory affect. (Fiber

used to be believed to be an inhibitor, but more recent research indicates that

it is not.)

 

Once again, though, nature has taken care of keeping things in balance. A modest

amount of vitamin C--just 75 mg., about the amount in one orange or 6 ounces of

orange juice--can double the absorption of non-heme iron. In fact, one Swedish

study looked at the rate of non-heme absorption in a variety of meals, some

meat-based and others vegetarian; the highest rate of absorption was seen in the

vegetarian meal with a high content of vitamin C--even though the meal included

such inhibitory foods as beans and cottage cheese (American Journal of Clinical

Nutrition, March 1982). The citric, malic and tartaric acids found in fruits and

vegetables also enhance absorption, though to a lesser degree than vitamin C, as

do sauerkraut and fermented soy products, such as tempeh and miso.

 

WHO'S AT RISK?

 

DESPITE WIDESPREAD iron fortification, iron deficiency is the most common

nutritional deficiency in the United States. In most cases, iron deficiency is

the result of inadequate intake in the presence of increased need, says William

Proulx, R.D., director of the dietetics program and an assistant professor of

nutrition at Andrews University in Berrien Springs, Mich., who co-authored an

article on iron in Nutrition Today (Feb. 1995).

 

The most likely to be iron deficient are children ages 6 months to 24 months,

whose iron stores are insufficient to meet the demands of growth, which increase

rapidly at this age, according to Ibrahim Parvanta, a public health nutritionist

and iron specialist with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in

Atlanta. Roughly 9 percent of this age group is at least mildly iron deficient,

if not necessarily anemic. Also at risk, says Parvanta, are pregnant women,

because of their overall increased demand for nutrients, and adolescent girls

and women of childbearing age, whose iron stores are depleted each month by

menstruation.

 

No doubt you've heard that vegetarians also are at risk of developing

iron-deficiency anemia. Vegetarians do tend to have lower--though not

deficient--stores of iron than meat eaters, which means they have fewer reserves

to call on, for example, during pregnancy. But studies have simply failed to

bear out vegetarians being more at risk: The research to date, while admittedly

not extensive, shows that vegetarians are no more likely than meat eaters to

have iron-deficiency anemia, says iron expert Janet Hunt, Ph.D., R.D., a

research nutritionist at the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Human Nutrition

Research Center in Grand Forks, N.D.

 

Contrary to popular belief, many plant foods are abundant in iron. In fact,

typical eating patterns of vegetarians indicate they actually consume more iron

than meat eaters, and that vegans--who eschew all animal products--eat the most

iron of all, according to Virginia Messina, M.P.H., R.D., and Mark Messina,

Ph.D., authors of The Vegerarian Way (Crown, 1996). Thus, although the heme iron

from meat may be better absorbed than the non-heme iron from plant foods,

vegetarians seem to make up for the difference by taking in more total iron;

vegetarians also tend to consume above-average levels of vitamin C, enhancing

the absorption of the iron they eat.

 

Moreover, research published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition (51

:3018[1990]) indicates that iron from plant foods may be more responsive to the

needs of iron-deficient people than iron from meat. In this study,

iron-deficient subjects absorbed twice as much heme iron as non-deficient

people, but they absorbed 10 times the amount of non-heme iron as non-deficient

subjects. The study's implications go against everything you learned back in

Home Ec 101. If you're low on iron, eating a helping of iron-rich lentils

(especially with a glass of o.j.) can boost your levels as much as a piece of

steak-and without steak's fat and cholesterol. And there's no difference in the

way your body uses heme and non-heme iron.

 

So why have vegetarians gotten a bad rap? " Because the Meat Board and the

Cattlemen's Association have done their propagandizing and convinced us that we

have to eat meat to get enough iron, " says Reed Mangels, Ph.D., R.D., nutrition

adviser to the Baltimore-based Vegetarian Resource Group and immediate past

chair of the American Dietetic Association's Vegetarian Nutrition Dietetic

Practice Group.

 

The National Live Stock and Meat Board is one of the largest providers of

nutrition-education material to schools. What kind of message does it send? Take

its program called " Mirror, Mirror, " which

 

RELATED ARTICLE: Iron-Rich Foods

 

You don't need to tote around a calculator to ensure you're getting enough iron.

Most people will have an adequate intake if they simply focus on eating a varied

diet that includes plenty of high-iron foods, says Reed Mangels, Ph.D., R.D.,

nutrition adviser to the Baltimore-based Vegetarian Resource Group and immediate

past chair of the American Dietetic Association's Vegetarian Nutrition Dietetic

Practice Group. When you do eat a food rich in iron, consume a good source of

vitamin C at the same time. One orange or 6 ounces of orange juice can double

the amount of iron your body absorbs from plant foods.

 

Legumes

1/2 cup firm tofu: 13.2 mg. 1/2 cup cooked lentils: 3.3 mg. 1/2 cup cooked red

kidney beans: 2.6 mg. 1/2 cup cooked chickpeas: 2.4 mg. 1/2 cup cooked lima

beans: 2.3 mg. 1/2 cup tempeh: 1.9 mg. 1/2 cup cooked black beans: 1.8 mg. 1/2

cup cooked split peas 1.3 mg.

 

Nuts

 

1 oz. pumpkin seeds: 4.3 mg. 1 oz. pine nuts: 2.6 mg. 1 oz. pistachio nuts: 1.9

mg. 1 oz. sunflower seeds: 1.9 mg. 1 oz. cashew nuts: 1.7 mg. 1 Tbs. tahini: 1.3

mg. 1 Tbs. sesame seeds: 1.3 mg.

 

Grains

 

1 cup cooked quinoa: 4.7 mg. 1 cup barley: 4 mg. 1/4 cup toasted wheat germ: 2.6

mg. 1 cup cooked enriched white spaghetti: 2.3 mg. 1 cup cooked whole wheat

spaghetti: 1.5 mg. 2/3 cup cooked oatmeal: 1.1 mg. 1 cup brown rice: 1 mg. 1

slice whole wheat bread: 0.9 mg.

 

Vegetables

 

1 cup Swiss chard: 4 mg. 1 medium baked potato with skin: 2.8 mg. 1/2 cup canned

pumpkin: 1.7 mg. 1 cup raw spinach: 1.6 mg. 1/2 cup cooked kale: 1.3 mg. 1/2 cup

cooked peas: 1.2 mg. 1/2 cup baked acorn squash: 1 mg. 1 cup cooked beets: 1 mg.

1/2 cup cooked collard greens: 1 mg. 1/2 cup cooked brussels sprouts: 0.9 mg.

1/2 cup cooked green beans: 0.8 mg. 1 cup raw broccoli: 0.8 mg.

 

Fruits

 

10 dried figs: 4.2 mg. 10 large dried prunes: 2.1 mg. 2/3 cup seedless raisins:

2.1 mg. 10 dried apricot halves: 1.7 mg.

 

Miscellaneous

 

3.5 oz. dried spirulina: 28.5 mg. 1 Tbs. blackstrap molasses: 2.3 mg. 1 Tbs.

nutritional yeast: 1.4 mg. addresses body image. According to the program,

" Diets that eliminate red meat and vegetables may leave you tired, irritable and

even anemic. Strict vegetarians are prone to iron-deficiency anemia. " Examples

of the meat myth can be found in the popular press, too. Recently, a study by

researchers at Purdue University found that active women don't get enough iron;

the majority of high-profile publications that reported on the study recommended

making meat a bigger part of the diet but didn't mention that the study was

funded by a grant from the Meat Board. It can be hard for consumers to sort out

the truth, which is that " the studies just don't support [vegetarians] being

more at risk, " says Mangels.

 

Still, you may be concerned, especially if you're the parent of vegetarian

children. Take it from one who knows: Proulx and his wife are the vegetarian

parents of three vegetarians, ages 11, 9 and 4. " We follow good, basic

nutritional advice, " says Proulx. " We have a lot of variety in our diet, it is

balanced and we eat enough calories. Therefore, I feel confident our vegetarian

diet is adequate in all respects for the whole family. "

 

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