Iron supplements for a dairy freak

June 26, 2023 12:54 AM

I’ve never been able to good about iron supplements because I rely heavily on dairy through the day, especially in the middle, beginning and end of it. Yogurt, cheese, cream, big fan. Hate having to be finicky about timing. What are your tips for being compliant?

My ferritin is 16 ug/L and I’m always tired, just fed up with it.

posted by cotton dress sock to Food & Drink (9 answers total)

Response by poster: “To be good”.
posted by cotton dress sock at 12:55 AM on June 26, 2023

You could try taking your iron supplement right before bed, at least a couple of hours after eating.
posted by kinddieserzeit at 1:37 AM on June 26, 2023 [5 favorites]

Are you taking elemental iron? I had similar ferritin levels to yours even after a few years of elemental iron supplementation (though my haemoglobin had gone back up to normal), and I switched to heme iron tablets about a year ago. The difference has been huge and I got a ton of energy back almost immediately. I was considering paying £800 out of pocket for an iron infusion around the time I saw a suggestion to try heme iron, and it's been very effective without such a huge expense.

I haven't noticed an impact on absorption from dairy consumption - I tend to take the supplement with my other morning medications & supplements when I get up, and most days I eat a cheese- or cream cheese-heavy breakfast within 10-30mins of talking the heme iron pill. I suspect that because heme iron is more easily absorbed than elemental iron anyway, there's less of a negative absorption impact from dairy consumption.

I'm vegetarian and kind of hate taking a bovine source supplement, but I keep taking it because it makes me feel human again after quite a few years of constant fatigue that the NHS had no interest in helping me treat effectively. I'm still mad, apparently, at the GP who refused to continue prescribing the elemental iron tablets even though my ferritin was still in the toilet just because my haemoglobin looked normal. Sorry for the rant, but I can't emphasise enough how life-changing the difference between elemental and heme supplements has been for me. I also don't get any GI symptoms (or the burps that taste like blood, shudder) that elemental iron tablets used to give me since I switched to heme.
posted by terretu at 2:06 AM on June 26, 2023 [6 favorites]

I take my iron with a half glass of orange juice at 9am each day—that’s two or three hours after my usual weekday breakfast and two or three hours before my lunch so it’s a pretty good time between meals/any dairy consumption for me. The orange juice helps with absorption and was suggested by my doctor.
posted by pie_seven at 3:39 AM on June 26, 2023 [4 favorites]

Iron is absorbed better on an empty stomach, so try and not take it close to eating. I generally take my heme iron pill in the time between lunch and dinner, often with a citrus snack to get some extra vitamin C (helps absorption). If that doesn't work in my schedule, I take the iron before going to bed.
posted by coffeecat at 5:51 AM on June 26, 2023 [3 favorites]

I take my iron in the form of a prenatal vitamin before bed. Can't take it in the am as it conflicts with another medication. But my levels were borderline enough at my last appointment that the prenatal seems to bump it enough without further supplementation - at least, I haven't had the slow energy sucking fatigue lately - so ymmv.
posted by Lawn Beaver at 6:44 AM on June 26, 2023 [1 favorite]

When I was on iron, I was told to just take it at the same time every day, regardless of food because they idea was to make me normal and that include with what I normally ate.

This might have been around better compliance - it was many years ago. This came up the one time I happened to complain about trying to manage my eating around my stupid iron and it was a revelation. Check with whoever prescribed your iron.

(There were some drug restrictions.)
posted by Lesser Shrew at 11:35 AM on June 26, 2023 [1 favorite]

I am just not able to proces iron supplements, though I have needed them for the entire first 40 years of my life. I get nausea, indigestion, even dizzy spells and sometimes I throw up. Obviously it all got worse with pregnancy. So I try to eat foods rich in iron and it worked for me. Specially, I really love spinach, red beets, peas, broccoli and liver. I could literally eat them every day, and there are other iron-rich foods I enjoy. But of course the challenge is to learn to cook them well. I suppose I did, out of necessity.

Then suddenly there was no longer a problem, and I think this might be a hormonal thing, rather than a result of my amazing diet. But I don't know, and neither does my doctor.
posted by mumimor at 12:01 PM on June 26, 2023 [2 favorites]

I easily get in a mode like this but try to remember I will absorb SOME iron from a tablet taken at at a slightly less than optimal time, vs absorbing NO iron from not taking the tablet at all.
posted by slightlybewildered at 8:40 PM on June 26, 2023 [2 favorites]