A Guide For Keeping Your Iron Level Normal

There are two types of dietary iron, heme and nonheme. Heme iron is the byproduct of hemoglobin, the protein in red blood cells that delivers oxygen to cells. It's found in animal foods that once contained hemoglobin, like red meats, fish, and poultry. Iron that is found in plant foods, like lentils and beans are called nonheme iron.

What Is Iron?

Iron, it's everywhere. Iron is, in fact, one of the Earth's most abundant metal. Iron is apart of many of the bodies enzymes and proteins. Iron is instrumental in cell growth and development. In addition, much of the body's oxygen transport requires iron.

Without the proper daily intake of iron, an iron deficiency is iminate, and you'll no likely the fatigue, lowered immunity and oxygen delivery abortion that is the byproduct of low iron levels. So keep those iron levels normal!

Recommended Daily Intake

You get, as the teenagers say, how important maintaining normal iron levels is. The Institute of Medicine of the Academy of Sciences recommends daily iron intake amounts with consideration to age and gender. Check out how much iron you should be taking in, that'll keep your levels in check.

• Seven-Twelve Months: Males and females should be consuming at least 11 mg of iron per day.
• Ages 1-4: Young boys and girls should intake at least 7 mg of iron daily.
• Ages 4-8: Children in this age group should get 10 mg of iron each day.
• Ages 9-13: 8mg
• Ages 14-18: Young men should be intaking 11 mg of iron a day, compared with girls 15 mg.
• Ages 19-50: 8 mg for men/18 mg for women
• Ages 51-: 8 mg

Foods for Normal Iron Levels

If you want a healthy iron level eating foods high in iron is one way to do it. Iron supplements help too. Iron absorption is the amount of dietary iron that the body obtains and uses from food. A healthy body typically absorbs about 10% to 15% of dietary iron, but individual absorption is influenced by several factors, including the individual's health. Good dietary sources for iron include:

• Chicken liver
• Turkey
• Turkey
• Shrimp
• Tuna
• Clams
• Oysters
• Chicken
• Crabs

Iron-fortified products are also valuable sources. They include: iron-fortified cereal, spinach, molasses, beans, grits, raisins and white and wheat bread.

There are two types of dietary iron, heme and nonheme. Heme iron is the byproduct of hemoglobin, the protein in red blood cells that delivers oxygen to cells. It's found in animal foods that once contained hemoglobin, like red meats, fish, and poultry. Iron that is found in plant foods, like lentils and beans are called nonheme iron. Nonheme iron is the type found in iron-enriched and iron-fortified foods. Most dietary iron is nonheme iron, but heme iron is absorbed better than nonheme iron.