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The Iron Myth!

There is a belief that if one consumes only mettafood, (i.e. not consuming red meat in particular), like being a vegetarian or vegan, that would lead to being anaemic or iron deficient. This is not quite true.  

 

There are two types of iron – heme iron found in animal foods and non-heme iron found in plant-based foods. Heme iron is more easily and readily absorbed, but this might not be as beneficial as we think. As our body does not have a mechanism to expel excess iron, it actually might be safer to consume plant –based iron. Having excess iron in our body leads to other problems.

 

Again, eating an array of whole plant based food will give you the iron that you require.  Taking foods containing Vitamin C such as lemons or limes or tomatoes and soaking or sprouting your beans will all help iron absorption. At the same time excess tea and coffee and taking calcium and zinc supplements will also hinder iron absorption.

Dr Michael Greger talks about the safety of heme vs non heme iron.

 The presenters and owners of this video are not affiliated with mettafood.com

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