{"id":24653,"date":"2025-10-21T16:58:38","date_gmt":"2025-10-21T16:58:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.forkranger.com\/?p=24653"},"modified":"2025-10-23T08:50:47","modified_gmt":"2025-10-23T08:50:47","slug":"how-healthy-is-eating-less-meat-and-dairy-iron","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fr-wp.cowdev.com\/de\/blog\/how-healthy-is-eating-less-meat-and-dairy-iron\/","title":{"rendered":"How healthy is eating less meat and dairy: iron"},"content":{"rendered":"

This blog post has been reviewed by nutritionist Peter Res<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Main learning:<\/strong> it’s very hard to know if you get sufficient iron (regardless of whether you are eating less meat and dairy or not), which is especially important for women as they need more of it
Goal:<\/strong> learn which plant-based foods are good sources of iron
Impact:<\/strong> Medium<\/strong> <\/mark>\ud83c\udf0d\ud83c\udf0d\ud83c\udf0d\u26aa\ufe0f\u26aa\ufe0f as part of paying attention to this when eating considerably less meat and dairy (see full Compass<\/a>)<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Maybe this topic comes up more often because I am a woman. While for many nutrients the recommended intake is similar for men and women, or is based on bodyweight, for iron it is different for men and women. Because women have their periods during a large part of their lives, they loose more iron, and therefore the recommended intake is higher. The European recommendations<\/a> are 16mg per day compared to 11mg per day for men. The American ones are slightly different, we\u2019ll get back to that a bit later.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Of all three (protein, iron and B12) I would stay iron is hardest nut to crack. Because of its presence in many different foods and factors affecting uptake, there\u2019s no easy and straightforward check or calculation. Even though we always prefer simple justified short-cuts at Fork Ranger, it seems like there\u2019s no such thing for iron. Despite that we did want to cover it. It took me a few months and quite some conversations with sports nutritionist Peter Res to create this blog.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some people get too little iron, especially women<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

While we\u2019re obsessed with protein, iron is more on the background. I didn\u2019t even know which foods contain high amounts of it before looking into it. Can you name five? I couldn\u2019t before writing this blog.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Too little iron intake affects our bodies, as iron has an important function in the formation of hemoglobin. This is part of our red blood cells and transports oxygen. And according to a (bit older) FAO study<\/a> 1 of 7 men and 1 of 4 women in Europe have anemia: lack of enough healthy red blood cells or lower amounts of hemoglobin to carry oxygen to your body\u2019s tissues. Partly this can be caused by a too low iron intake.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Too much iron on the other hand, can lead to negative health impacts, especially for the liver and gut. The European Food and Safety Authority<\/a> didn\u2019t manage to define an upper limit, but they did set a safe level of max. 40mg per day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So one thing we can already say: iron has a bigger right to be a topic of our attention than protein.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The difference between iron from animal and plant products<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

So, let\u2019s have a look at how we get to the recommended 11-16 mg per day. Plants like legumes, dark leafy greens, nuts, seeds, whole grain products, and soy products are good sources of iron. But, what\u2019s important to know: there are two different forms of iron. The one in plants (non-heme iron) is harder for your body to absorb than the iron found in animal products (heme iron). The absorption from iron from average diets\u00a0is estimated to be 15%<\/a>. For vegetarians this estimate is 10%, as a bigger part of the iron comes from plant products.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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To make it more complicated: non-heme iron absorption itself can also be\u00a0affected by other nutrients<\/a>. So-called promotors, like for example vitamin C and other acids, increase absorption. Fun fact: plant-based diets happen to contain plenty of vitamin C, because people often eat lots of fruits and vegetables and these are excellent sources. But, there are also nutrients which decrease absorption, called inhibitors. For example, phytates in cereals and legumes and polyfenols in coffee and tea can decrease iron absorption. By the way, soaking or fermenting legumes<\/a> also decreases the amount of phytates. For example, if you look at tofu and tempeh (both made from soy beans), tempeh will contain less phytates<\/a> as it’s fermented.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But how much do these factors actually matter? Let me comfort you: this doesn\u2019t mean that you should avoid eating legumes or drinking coffee. In a varied diet you\u2019d get also enough promotors which could counter the effect of inhibitors. And this has also already been taken into account in setting the recommendations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By the way, shifting to more iron from plant-based products also has an effect on your health. A high intake of heme iron (found in red meat and other animal products), is associated with a higher risk of developing type 2 diabetes<\/a> and colon cancer<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So do vegans and vegetarians get enough iron?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Because of the complexities around iron absorption, it\u2019s not sufficient to just look at the iron intake.<\/em> Some studies have looked at:<\/p>\n\n\n\n